Acting
by Amethyst Wolf Dragon
Summary: Yuki and Kyo are tired of being stalked by girls so what should they do? Ayame and Shigure have an idea. Rate for curssing and shounenai and saftey. Probably over rated. No like shounenai/yaoi then no read. Please R&R Thanks.
1. The Suggestion

Yay! My second fic! But it's my first Fruits Basket fic. Hey Ryo do the disclaimer and warnings.

Ryo: Why should I?

Four words. Paper Fan of DOOM!

Ryo: Damn I forgot you had that! Fine. We don't own Fruits Basket so don't ever think of suing! Also this is a shounen-ai story both real and fake and cussing (mostly Kyo). If you don't like it then don't read it.

Chapter 1: The suggestion

_**Rrrriiiinnnngggg**_

_Finally! I thought we'd never get out of here!_ Thought one all too familiar orange top. Since he didn't have to help clean the classroom that day and Toru had work till late that night he decided to head home rather then hang about the school for awhile. As he was leaving he saw a certain silver haired "Prince" ducking out of sight and slinking away.

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_Damn those fan club girls! It seems like the closer we get to graduation the more determined they become! _

Of course this was in fact true. The close the Prince got to graduation the more desperate the "Prince Yuki Fan Club" became. Yuki was starting to have a real hard time avoiding close contact with them. He had spent forty minutes just sneaking out of the school that day when classes ended. And he was pretty sure it was going to get worse.

_And the school year just started!_, he thought in frustration as he reached Shigure's house.

He dropped his school bag in his room and went down to the living room. When he got there he found Shigure trying helping Kyo with some injuries he had acquired; namely getting his arm to face the correct direction.

**_CRACK!_**

"Shit, that hurt!" Kyo shouted as Shigure failed to get the bones to maneuver correctly.

"Well, this wouldn't happen if you would try to play along when she comes over." Shigure pointed out, "OK, I could only manage the wrist. We'll need to call Hatori."

Orange cat ears appeared on Kyo's head as he slammed his good fist onto the table, "Like hell I'm going to do that! It'll make it worse!"

"Looks like I'm not the only one who's having girl troubles today. I'm going to guess that Kagura was here." Yuki stated mildly.

"Damn right she was! She "missed me" enough to reverse the direction of my arm AND dislocate it two different ways AFTER she crushed me and threw me around the yard a couple of times."

Yuki smiled slightly.

"What are you smiling about you damn rat!" Kyo shouted.

"Personally, I found it amusing. But anyway, how was your day Yuki?" Shigure asked as he picked up the phone.

"Besides nearly colliding with about 15 of those blasted fan club girls, it was fine." Yuki answered, sarcasm dripping from ever word.

"Oh, so that's why you were sneaking around school all day." Kyo muttered.

There was a brief lull in the conversation, then they sighed simultaneously, "Why can't they/she leave me alone?"

Ayame padded quietly up behind them, "Why don't you both pretend to be gay? Then they would probably give up and leave you alone."

Yuki and Kyo jumped, because they hadn't heard him come in, and then screamed, "What are you doing here?" not really thinking about what he had said.

Shigure took that opportunity to return from his call. He put a heart-stopping smile on his face, "Aya that is truly a wonderful idea!"

Ayame returned it with an equally beautiful smile. "Isn't it though?"

He turned on the full Bishonen charm and gazed at Shigure, "It's truly been to long Shigure."

Shigure, too, used his full Bishonen charm and gazed back at Ayame, "Yes, since last spring,"

They paused for a second before; "YES!" they both declare giving each other a thumb's up with a goofy grin. All the while Yuki and Kyo were just sitting at the table with blank looks. Then what Ayame said finally sunk in and their eyes got about 5 times bigger; though if it was horror, shock, or realization one may never know.

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Weeeeee! I'm crazy. But I couldn't resist. Muhahahahahahahaha! Short chapter and a cliffy! Muhahahahahahahahahaha!

Ryo: Right, any way...

Hakaru: Kwweeee. Kew kew kweee! (Be nice. Please hit the review button.)

Mei-chan: And pwease if you awe going to fwame us then pwease make it a decent one that doze not just insuwt the stowy.

Ryo: So please feel free R&R.

(I updated this chapter!)


	2. A doctor, a walk, and no new ideas

I GOT 4 REVIEWS! This is SSSSSSSSSOOOOOOOO cool! Thanks.

Polka Dot: They may eventually but you did help me figure some thing out. But I ain't showin' till next chapie!

Mizuko: I updated! Thanks for reviewing.

Lynn: I'm glade you liked it.

MadgrigalMelancholy: Yay! You think it's good! Well wish granted here is the next chappie! O yeah sorry no shounen-ai yet. Not really any way.

To reviewers. bows thanks for taking the time to review, and to any one else who is reading this fic, hope this chapter is good. Mei-chan!

Mei-chan: We no own Fruits Basket! Wawnings were in the wast chaptew. Pwease R&R. (Chibi puppy eyes)

Chapter 2: A Doctor, a Walk, and No New Ideas

O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O

"YOU WANT US TO DO WHAT!" they both yelled.

"Why in the HELL would we want to do that!" demanded Kyo.

"Especially with the way you two act!" added Yuki in a cold voice.

"Well, it would get a lot of those girls to give up Yuki and Kagura might give up on you Kyo." said Ayame as if stating the obvious.

A hand appeared on both Shigure and Ayames' head, "And most of that act they do is just that, an act. One they have been doing since they were twelve." Came a monotone voice from behind Ayame and Shigure.

Hatori then stepped from the shadows and continued talking, "However, I don't think that their overly flamboyant acting is what they had in mind."

He moved around and sat near Kyo, "Now let's see about this arm...hmmm... facing the wrong way and dislocated in one other place. Well let's see what we can do. Sit still."

_Crack! Squelch!_

"What made that noise?" asked Ayame who looked slightly green but curious as a kid.

"The first was a bone moving back into place and the second was several of his muscles sliding back into proper orientation. Anyway, we're almost done."

_**Crack! SNAP!**_

"ITAI!"

And with that final wet sounding snap Kyos' arm was relocated and facing the right way.

"Now Kyo, take this pain killer and ice down your arm. I believe you know how to make a sling."

Kyo nodded.

"Good, do so and keep it like that for about a week. I have to go now and no Shigure I can't stay. See you all later." and with that he was gone.

"Damn! He's becoming a physic I swear! He's always doing that now. But, he's right..."said Shigure.

"...we just meant that you should find a way to show that your preferences are towards guys or something; although if you wanted you could just announce it to the school but that's up to you." Ayame said with a smile.

Kyo left the room to wrap his arm in cold packs and take the pain killer. Yuki, once again, had that blank look on his face.

"I know!" Shigure exclaimed, "We should order dinner and you can think about our suggestion. Then you both can go pick up Tohru from work. If you want a different opinion then you should ask her." And with that he got up to order dinner.

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Later, at the hotel where Tohru works…

Tohru was just leaving the building when she noticed that both Yuki and Kyo had come to get her.

"Hey guys!"

"Hello Honda-san."

"Hey."

As they started walking towards home Tohru noticed that something seemed to have the guys down.

"Um, n…not to sound rude or anything, but why did you both come?"

Yuki and Kyo may get along better, but never had both of them come to pick her up from work, "And you both seem a ... little ... preoccupied." She said uncertainly.

Both boys stopped walking and tried to burn holes in the side walk for a minute. Tohru stopped and turned around to watch them nervously.

Yuki looked up first and decided that he had to explain, "Well Honda-san, it was for three reasons. One, because we wanted too," they started walking again, "Two, we wanted to get away from Shigure and Ayame," here both boys shutter and Kyo's attempts to melt the sidewalk with his glare double, "And three, well ... because we wanted to ask you to help us solve a problem."

By now they had begun to walk through the woods, so they decided to make a detour to Yukis' 'secret base' to pick some green onions and strawberries, but also to have some where to sit and talk. Tohru spoke up first since the guys didn't seem to know where to start.

"Well, I can kinda understand why you would want to be out of the house, but what's the problem?"

Yuki once again gave in first so he started.

"Well, you see Honda-san we are both tired of being followed around both in..."

Kyo interrupted him saying, "...and out of school. For me it's mostly Kagura, but there are five of six of them at school now. And..."

"...they're worse for me. I have to deal with the 'Prince Yuki Fan Club' every where in school and half of the time that I'm not in school!" Yuki continued.

"So we want to find a way to get them to leave us alone." Kyo explained

"Ayame, and I guess Shigure, gave us a suggestion..." Yuki added.

"...but we aren't really sure we want to do that. So, we wanted to know..." Kyo put in.

"...if you could give us another idea." They finished at the same time.

Tohru blinked a few times while trying to process what they had told her.

"Well, um, you already tried telling them you aren't interested in a relationship. Avoiding them isn't working so far..." vigorous nods from the boys, "So..." She looked up at them "...the only thing I can think of is being obviously involved with some one. But that has its own problems." She shrugged while the boys looked down in defeat.

"This is heading towards the snakes' idea." Muttered Kyo.

"What was his suggestion?" asked Tohru.

"He thinks we should pretend to be gay." Yuki deadpanned.

There was a windy pause in the conversation. A few leaves blew passed them. Doing a loop-de-loop on there way.

"Now that you mention it that sounds logical, but it's up to you guys so why don't we head home and you two can think about it on the way there and over the weekend." Tohru said brightly.

Yuki and Kyo stared at her a moment, then nodded and they all got back on the trail. Tohru hummed happily while the boys brooded. They all stayed in this semi-peaceful state until they got back to Shigures' when both boys decided that snake skin wallets were a nice idea.

O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o

I like cliffies.

Mei-chan: Pwease weview the stowy. She wites faster if people weview.

Random note: For those yet to take your driving test you should know that your tester will make the difference between pace and fail if you are a good drive. The one I had dinged me multiple times for something NOBODY IN THE &$(&$ COUNTY DOES! But the other tester I talked to later probably would have passed me because I am a good driver! I'm done now u thanks for reading my story and rant. R&R

(I updated this chappy)


	3. The Decision

**OMG!** I feel loved. I got 10 reviews!

Linku: You could look at it that way. Or you could take it as they are kinda like twins. They react the same a lot to things towards the end of the series.

knightsfairlady: I can't be sure if it will turn serious. It really depends on whole things play out. Glad to know that I have everyone in character!

Naria Lacour de Fanel: Maybe they will; maybe they won't. It depends. But I too am a shounen-ai supporter:3

Polka Dot: If/when it comes up it will be! Especially for the guys! D

Thanks to every one who took the time to review this fic! I really apperceive it!

Hakkaru: Kweeeee! Keeeww. Kee kee kwe. (Please R&R! Warnings and declaimer in last chapter. Hope you like it.)

Chapter 3: The Decision

'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'

The weekend arrived and breakfast finds Ayame alive and without too many injuries. Strangely, Shigure also appears to have some injuries. After breakfast Ayame left and both boys disappear to brood in there preferred places. In this way, Saturday passed with out incident.

Sunday began much the same as the pervious day except that after breakfast both boys disappeared entirely. Kyo wasn't on the roof and Yuki wasn't at his base. Tohru was worried about them but Shigure told her that it was probably best not to worry and leave them be.

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Deep in the woods…

"Damn it!"

Kyos' fist collided with a tree leaving a small crater, "I don't want to do this."

Kyo punched the tree again causing a larger crater and a crack to appear on the poor tree.

Yuki glared at Kyos' back, "You think I want to? I don't see any other way!"

Kyo turned and punched at Yuki who dodged easily, "I know that!"

Yuki returned the favor and Kyo just moved to one side, "Then stop," another punch, "complaining!"

Kyo went for a kick, "Either we think of a way for this to work," the fight goes on and becomes faster and more aggressive, "or we can get stalked for the rest of our lives!"

By this point both had landed some hits. After going at it for a few more minutes both calm down and the fist fight ended.

They sank to the ground and were silent for a while.

"I still hate this, but nothing we can do about it. Have any bright ideas on how were going to pull this off?" Kyo asked as he looked up from the ground.

Yuki thought about it for a minute, "Well we could..." And with that they began plotting on how their first act would begin.

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On Monday Yuki and Kyo seemed to be walking a little closer together then usual. Tohru concluded that they must have decided to go with Ayames' idea. So she just walked quietly in front of them smiling.

The first to notice the change was, of course, the 'Prince Yuki Fan Club'. They never seemed to be able to get a chance to try and corner Yuki because he was walking in the halls with Kyo almost all the time. Also, they seemed to be talking a lot with out fighting like they normally did. This was not normal, and they didn't like it, but they decided that it would be normal tomorrow.

The next to notice were Uo, Hana, Haru, and Momiji who KNEW this wasn't right. Oh, they knew that Yuki and Kyo got along better now but for them to spend this much time together with out arguing was unheard of. They, too, decided to wait to see how tomorrow turned out.

However, tomorrow was no better. And now the classes were staring to notice because Kyo didn't make any out burst or objections to the things Yuki said. Rumors began to spread through out the school as the strange behavior continued. Uo and Hana decided to ask Tohru if she knew any thing. She wasn't really sure she should tell them but she thought they should know something, so she told them that the boys were trying something to see if they could get the girls at school to stop bugging them so much.

Haru and Momiji went straight to the source and asked Yuki and Kyo what was going on. They told Haru and Momiji exactly what was going on. Momijis' brown eyes widened then he begin to giggle and hop around and make little jokes until Kyo punched him on the head yelling "would you stop being so damn irritating" and Momiji started crying and saying "Kyo hit me" and "Kyo's picking on me" over and over again while Kyo threatened him more which just caused the cycle to continue an escalate.

Haru just blinked a few times and his mouth formed a small "o" before he went Black, threw his arm around Yuki, and declaring "So...what have you two been up to?"

Yuki looked ready to hit Haru and Kyo was still yelling at Momiji as they all left that day.

By Friday the 'PYFC' had had it! Three groups of them somehow surrounded Kyo when he was alone and demanded to know why he had been hanging around the "Prince" so much. They looked dangerous but Kyo wasn't even fazed.

He calmly replied, "Because I want to and I don't see how it's any of your business so get out of my way."

He then took the time to glare at each one of them, making some of them cringe, before he walked through a gap between two of the cowering girls. Soon after, the rumor mill became even more lively.

That day Tohru had work and Haru and Momiji decided to drop by Shigures' place so they all walked there together, with Haru and Momiji teasing/talking the whole way there. Kyo and Yuki sighed and wondered if they were going to be able to keep this act up. Then something Haru said really struck a nerve for Kyo and he went ballistic. Haru went Black and they both started fighting but Kyo was so mad that Haru didn't really stand a chance. He got to Shigures' being supported by Yuki and Momiji while Kyo stalked ahead of them.

* * *

Well this is getting fun!

Ryo: I hope you aren't planning to do anything to cruel to them.

Of course I'm not! . .

Ryo: Right... For some reason I don't believe you.

I'm serious! I won't do anything really bad to them. Now stop chastising me!

_Smack_

Ryo: Itai. .O Stupid fan.

Hakkaru: Keew kee. Keeewww kwweee keew! Kweeee keee kwee kee!(Ignore them. Please review and tell us what you think! But no flames unless they are intelligent!)

(I updated this chapter.)


	4. A Boar and A Kiss

Hello every one! I will now attempt to write the 4th chapter of Acting after reading...stuff...on Mediaminer.

Ryo: (has stolen Paper Fan Of Doom)**_ Smack_** Just get your mind out of the gutter and do the Q&A!

Aren't you my demon side? You act more like a Yami.

Ryo: 1.Yes I am 2.It's really similar

Oooo. On to the Q&A then!

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Naria Lacour de Fanel

YAY! Plushies! (Cuddling Plushies) If Haru did that I couldn't really post the story here nor would it work for the plot. Nice thought though but I think you should add in Momiji and Kyo!

Ryo: I swear you were on MM for to long!

Was not! (Pouts)

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Knightsfairlady

Of course there is such a thing as intelligent flames. The problem is I don't know if there is such a thing as intelligent flamers. Anyway the boys don't hate each other anymore. They've been getting along way better said so in the first chapter. And I never said that for sure it wouldn't turn serious. It just depended on the plot and popular demand from the last few chapters. But if it's just fluff and light shounen-ai you won't be mad right? Right! (Looking really hopeful)

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Kataru

'Member their acting. When their home and no one's watching they whip out the Oreos and complain about their stalkers and drown their sorrow in cookies and milk…JK . When they aren't at school then they are doing normal Yuki and Kyo activities, I.e. sulking, gardening, fighting..., or practicing their acting. At school it's mostly talking and walking together, looking happy to be near the other, and almost cuddling.

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Thanks to everyone who reviewed.

Random Advertising: If anyone here likes YuGiOh then can you PLEASE R&R my YuGiOh fic? Kudasai!

Ryo: You managed that pretty well.

You almost can't tell that I was reading NC-17 stuff on Mediaminer!

Ryo: -.-;;; Maybe but you still have the chapter to write.

Nothing real serious is going to happen I swear! Just cause I got Kagura in it don't mean nothing!

* * *

Chapter 4: A Boar and a Kiss

So it's once again the weekend. Our boys managed to get through a week of acting. The end week had been harder then the beginning. Between dodging out raged 'PYFC' members and Haru and Momiji's teasing Yuki and Kyo were really stressed out. But they still had a long way to go.

Everyone was sitting at the main table seeing as it was just after breakfast. However, rather then sitting opposite each other at the table Yuki and Kyo were sitting on the same side of the table; partially for practice and partially because you never know jus who will show up these days.

Not that it really mattered seeing as the person who materialized outside the door was just Ayame who received two glares for just being there, "Hello Tohru, Shigure, Yuki and Kyo!", and didn't even realize it.

The man is oblivious to most things.

"So how did your week go boys?" he asked happily.

More glaring and a grunted, "Fine."

"Oh, that's good! See it wasn't such a bad idea was it?"

If glares were guns then Ayame would be facing a double firing squad armed with machine guns.

"Anyway, I came to see how everyone is doing and talk with you, Shigure."

And he still hadn't noticed.

Tohru, being the kind person she is, asked if Ayame would like something to eat or drink.

"No, but thank you ever so much for asking; however, that reminds me. Shigure would you like to come have lunch with me and Hatori later? We can have a Blossom Trio reunion and reminisce about the good old days."

"I'd love to Aya!"

Kyo, who was reclining with his hands resting on the floor behind him, said something about stress management and training. Since he spoke towards Shigure and Ayame he had to crane his head around Yuki's. When Kyo spoke it caused a shiver to run down Yuki's spine as the warm breath hit bare skin.

'_Neko…'_

_That was odd. Like someone else's voice…great, now I'm going crazy. _

"Oh Kyo, before you disappear I thought you might like to know that Kagura's planning to come by tomorrow."

Kyo bristled slightly before stalking off without a word. Soon Tohru left also for a day with her friends followed by a sleep over at Hanas' place. Yuki took this opportunity to disappear up to his room. Ayame and Shigure continued talking for about ten minutes before they left to meet Hatori.

Meanwhile somewhere in the woods…

**_Crunch_** "I" **_Crunch_** "am so" **_Crunch_** "not ready" **_Crunch_** "to deal with" **_Crunch_** "_HER_!" **_Crack_** **_Creek Swoosh CRASH_**

Another tree fell. He'd punched down 5 trees and kicked 2 more down in the 30 minutes since he'd gotten to the clearing. He sat down and leaned against the tree he had just knocked down and closed his eyes.

_I can't believe that Kagura is coming over so soon. We'll have to do some major acting to convince her that we really are together and Yuki and I will probably have to fight her._

Sigh

_I'm going to hurt on Monday, that's for sure._

Suddenly, a shadow fell across him, "Brooding? Care if I join you?"

Kyo didn't even open his eyes. "Yeah, I'm brooding, but I don't really care if you sit here. We have to talk anyway or the jig is up...at least for me." Kyo suddenly looked sadder then after Tohru saw his true form. Yuki felt a pang of sympathy towards him as he sat down next to Kyo and stared at the ground.

Kyo opened his eyes and stared at the sky. "You do realize, Nezumi, that we will probably have to fight with Kagura."

Yuki stiffened, but nodded. "Yes, Neko, I realize that. But before we can get to that scene we need to show _VERY_ obvious signs that we're together."

Kyo closed his eyes in frustration and sigh again, "Like what? You sitting in my lap or something?"

Yuki shook his head, "Maybe, maybe not, but we'll probably have to sit like we were this morning to start with."

Yuki got up and headed over to one of the tree at the edge of the clearing. He glared at it for a bit before punching it as hard as he could. Large cracks ran up, down, and around the tree creating splintered bits of wood the size of a baseball bat. He then savagely kicked the tree a little to the side of where he had punched it. The tree groaned in protest before joining the seven Kyo had knocked down.

"Feel better now?" Asked Kyo.

Yuki whipped his head around to glare at him. His eyes met Kyo's sympathetic ones and both felt a hitch in their breathing, but tried to ignore it, not really wanting to think about why it had happened.

"Yes."

He sat back down and they talked on and off, but eventually got up and returned home.

When they got there they found a note that Shigure had left. It read:

_Yuki and Kyo,_

_We're probably going to be out until very late so don't expect to see me until late tonight or early tomorrow. Also, my editor is coming by today so could you give her the manuscript that I left in the manila envelope on my desk? Thanks. Hope you two know what you're doing tomorrow. Good Luck in advance._

_Shigure_

_P.S._

_Could you two try not to break my house today? I'd really appreciate it._

It was signed with a little dog picture with the word "Inu"

The boys sighed and wondered off to get something to eat. They spent the rest of the day sulking, planning, and practicing there last resorts. The only break in the routine was to give Shigure's crying editor the manuscript. Apparently, Shigure had been up to his usual antics until someone made him call her and tell her where she could get it.

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Mid-morning, the next day…

Shigure sat reading the paper and looked very pleased with himself for some reason. Yuki and Kyo were sitting close enough that their hips touched. This combined with the small accidental touches was giving both boys the oddest case of goose bumps. Tohru, who had just gotten back, was in the kitchen making snacks. Then the ground started to shake. Kyo sighed and Yuki scooted even closer to him. He loosely wrapped both arms around Kyo's waist and lay his head on Kyo's shoulder and put on a happy/content face. For some reason it didn't seem all that forced to Yuki.

_Maybe it's the practice._ He mused.

Kyo wrapped an arm around Yuki's waist and tilted his head until it rested against Yuki's and put on a smile and for all the world looked happy about the fact that he and Yuki looked as if they were in mid-cuddle. Shigure's ears twitched. He could have sworn that the boys' hearts had just skipped a beat.

_I would hate to be in their shoes._

Tohru came out with the snacks as the house really started to rattle. Suddenly, as quickly as it had started, the shaking and quaking just stopped and Tohru went to the door.

The boys sighed and Kyo picked up a jelly bun while Yuki whispered "Here we go."

Kyo nodded and offered Yuki a bite of the jelly bun which was accepted.

"KYO MY LOVE!"

Kyo cringed slightly at the call but remained where he was. Kagura entered the room and probably would have leapt the table if not for what she saw; Kyo and Yuki cuddling and sharing a jelly bun.

"Good morning Kagura."

"Hey Kagura."

Tohru came in after Kagura and could tell that the older girl was very confused, "Kagura? Why don't you sit and have a jelly bun and we can talk."

Kagura slowly sunk to ground near the edge of the table across from Yuki and Kyo. She blindly took a jelly bun and started eating it but you could tell that she was lost in thought.

_What's going on? Why are they sitting like that? Kyo never sat with me like that. So why is he doing it with Yuki? And they both look so happy but they can't...I thought...I thought..._

Kagura looked up at Kyo with tears in her eyes, "Kyo ... I ... I thought ... th ... that...you ... l… loved me."

She watched him hoping that what her eyes told her was a lie. Kyo bit his lip then turned his head so he wasn't looking right at her, "I'm sorry Kagura, but I don't love you. I never loved you and I told you that many times. The truth...the truth is I am not really interested in girls." He said very gently.

Kagura shook her head. She looked to Tohru her face clearly saying 'It's not true, is it?'

Tohru bit her lip and nodded once. Kagura turned her head down so that her hair was in front of her eyes and she sat very still. After a couple of seconds Shigure reached out to put a hand on her shoulder and whispered "Kagura?" in a soft but worried voice. Just before Shigure actually touched her she smacked the hand away and fled the house through the open door to the woods. As she left they could see the tears beginning to fall.

The four at the table stared after her for a while. Tohru spook first.

"I feel bad about doing that to her. She looked so sad and hurt."

Shigure nodded, "I agree. That was really hard on her. It will take a while for her to get over it, if she ever does, we should give her some time alone."

Everyone agreed.

"Hey Yuki, let's go for a walk." Yuki looked as if he would have asked why except that Kyo's face clearly said 'we need to talk…now' so he simply nodded and stood.

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Kagura saw Yuki and Kyo walk out of the house and into the woods. They looked like a couple out for a stroll at first glance, but Kagura could tell that there was something else. She had already begun to convince herself that what she'd just witnessed couldn't have been the truth. She decided to follow them to see if they were just fooling everyone because she just couldn't believe that Kyo didn't love her.

She followed them to a clearing a few miles into the woods were the two sat down with there back to a newly fallen tree. She hid behind another tree not to far away and strained her ears to her what they were saying.

Yuki glanced over at Kyo, "So, what did you want to talk about?"

"I…," Kyo hesitated as if unsure, "I wanted to know if you had the same strange feelings I do when we're acting." He finished in a rush.

Kagura looked up sharply, a small gasp on her lips.

_They were pretending earlier._

Yuki blinked at him before turning to look at the ground. Kyo thought he saw a bit of red as Yuki turned away, "Yes I do and … I think I know what it means."

_What! _Kagura exclaimed.

Kyo also blushed slightly as he turned to look at the ground. "Yeah, I think I know what it means as well."

Kagura carefully peeked over the edge of the log.

They both looked up and their eyes met. There was a hitch in their breathing and all that they were trying to say in word, but couldn't was told, 'I love you'. And their lips met in a soft, but passionate kiss.

n.n.n.n.n.n.n.n.n.n.n.n.n.n.n.n.n.n.n.n

Well there ya go. That seems like a good place to stop.

Ryo: Knightsfairlady we hope that you aren't to upset that it did turn serious but that's what everyone seemed to want sorry.

Japanese – English

Yami – Darkness

Kudasai – Please

Nezumi – Mouse

Neko – Cat

-kun – no real translation. Sign of respect/friendship usually attached to boys names

Inu – Dog

-san – Mr. Mrs. Miss

(holding Mei-chan) Hope everyone like the chapter now please review.

Mei-chan: Pwease don't fwame. But if you reawy want to twy to make it intewagent pwease.

She is so Kawaii! Any see you next chapter.

(I updated this chapter)


	5. Fights and Feelings

(singing) They're gonna be so mad

Add may be glad.

I ain't been here in awhile!

O, they may yell and

They will threaten'

With armies, weapons, and other such things.

But I don't care 'cause I'm updating things!

(laughs)

Ryo: now that that's over you will do something about your review back log.

O, yeah.

MomsDarkSecret: Mooooommmmm are ya gonna pester me online too? T.T Thanks fer betaing this chappy though. And you'll see.

SlySilverWolf: Thanks!

Okamihanyou-Lin: Here's the update and thanks fer betaing the first bit!

Goddes-of-Sol: Sorry about the cliff but here's more!

Moon Bind: Thanks fer the comment.

Rinoki Rio: Hehe, glad that you like it so much!

Hayden: Yeah, fluff is good!

Dreamer's Wasteland: I have not given up! I just hit one wall of a writer's block. (Pokes band-aid) Ow… But here's more!

GirlWaterShaman: Meh…To each there own. And it sounded like something to do with "sheets", "fun" and "toys" I think but I didn't catch all of it so I left it for you, the readers, to fill in.

Kiryuu-500: hehe, updated!

Kyonkyon: - I like the name. Ands I thanks for the complement!

Lil Nezumi: Really? Cause there's a bit of a monkey wrench that got thrown into things. Thanks fer the commplenent.

Cat: Thanks!

Enjeru: YAY! Thanks!

Well, here you go people! Gomen for the long wait. And watch out for that wrench in the works. And remember, Don't hurt the writer for things will go slower!

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Chapter 5: Fights and Feelings

Kagura followed the boys into a clearing. She crept behind one of the fallen trees near the boys; listening to them. When she heard Kyo mentioned acting she was furious but the next thing Yuki said brought her crashing back to reality. She collapsed back against the fallen tree. She hugged her legs to her chest.

_They were pretending earlier!_

She glanced over the tree thinking that she should confront them. Then they kissed and her world shattered. She hugged her legs tighter to her chest and buried her head in her arms.

_Kyo kissed him! WHY! He's kissing Yuki and niether of them seem to care! This can't be happening!_

Kagura began to silently sob. She couldn't take it. She didn't understand. She took off, not caring if they heard her, she couldn't stand to be near them any more.

**9-9-9-9**

Yuki and Kyo listened until they were sure Kagura was gone before they pulled away from the kiss.

"That better have worked." Muttered Kyo.

Yuki nodded in agreement. He was worried that the way things were going he and Kyo were going to become some of the world's best actors because while the kiss had occurred all the passion had been fake. It was the final ploy to convince Kagura and, while they would be pounded for sure, they knew it had been necessary hence why they had practiced it, though it had been difficult to do at first. It had taken all of yesterday to get the whole scene down.

"Let's just hope there isn't a high demand for repeat performances." Whispered Yuki.

Kyo nodded in agreement and got up, "Should we head back now or wait a minute?"

"We should probably go back now."

"You do know that she's probably going to go after you right?"

Yuki nodded, "But we should be fine. I'd say we're becoming masters of improvisation."

Knowing that Kagura was probably still lurking about the boys wandered home hand-in-hand. Any open-minded person who walked by then would have said they were a cute couple. As they walked towards home they began to feel very uneasy. They could feel eyes glaring into there backs and knew it had to be Kagura. Occasionally, one would glance at the surrounding trees to try and catch a glimpse of her but no luck.

"Do you hear that _koibito_?" asked Kyo as he glanced over his shoulder. He was careful to use endearments to keep up the façade.

Yuki nodded. He could feel the eyes watching them intensely. Especially him, burning their hatred into him, "Yes, perhaps we should hurry up."

As they hurried away a pair of glaring eyes followed them.

_They can't do this to me! I will have my revenge. Yuki will pay for taking my beloved Kyo from me! He is mine and will always be!

* * *

_

Kagura ran silently through the trees to get ahead of the boys before they could get back to Shigure's house.

Kyo and Yuki were walking briskly towards Shigure's house and safety, when a dark whirlwind appeared out of the forest and knocked Yuki and Kyo away from each other, sending Kyo crashing to the ground and Yuki flying into a tree trunk, stunning them both.

The whirlwind died down to reveal a truly pissed off Kagura. She grabbed Yuki by the shirt collar and shoved him up against the tree.

"It's your fault!" she screamed, "You took my Kyo from me!"

"Kagura, I…" Yuki started.

Kagura struck him across the face and before Yuki could recover she kneed him in the stomach causing Yuki to double-up from the pain. But Kagura wasn't finished. She hauled him up by the shirt collar, again, pulling him off the ground.

Yuki was too disoriented from the previous blow to do much fighting back, not that he didn't try.

She glared up at him. "You knew how I felt about him and you still took him from me," She hissed at him, "I know he felt the same but now this. It's entirely your FAULT!"

She smashed her fist into Yuki's side before letting go. Yuki fell to one knee but slowly stood up. Kagura gave him enough time to stand and attempt to defend himself. To Yuki's credit he did managed to dodge a number of the punches and kicks thrown at him. However, even if he did dodge them, the pressure they created caused cuts of impressive size.

Kagura landed a ferocious blow to Yuki's shin but grabbed his shirt again before he could finish falling, "Suffer as I am suffering because of you." She hissed at him. With that she spun around and threw him across the path and into a boulder.

* * *

Kyo came out of his stupor just in time to see Yuki's flying body collide with the unyielding stone and Kagura not too far behind looking like she was on the war path.

_She's trying to kill him!_

He leapt to his feet as Kagura reached Yuki's still form.

She had just landed a kick to Yuki's ribs when Kyo wrapped his arms under her shoulders and locked his fingers behind her neck, pulling her back from Yuki, "Stop it Kagura, you'll kill him!" he shouted.

She growled at him, "He deserves it! How could you do this to me!" She broke his hold and kicked his legs out from under him sending him, once again, crashing to the ground. She grabbed him and shoved him against the nearest tree and pressed herself flush against him.

"Don't you love me anymore! I thought that you loved me with all your heart." She looked up at him with pleading, teary, eyes.

But he pushed her away, "No, Kagura. You heard what I said before and I meant it!"

She glared at him, "How could you!" she screamed as she unleashed a flurry of punches on Kyo. He was unable to block the vicious blows, though not for lack of trying. Several distinct snap echoed through the forest.

When Kagura finally stopped hitting him he crumpled to the ground, unconscious. Kagura stood there panting not, sure what to do. Quite suddenly she felt a blow to the side of her neck and fell unconscious only to be caught by her attacker.

"'Gure, why'd you run off so suddenly?" shouted Momiji. When he caught up to Shigure he gasped at what he saw.

"Shigure? Momiji? What's wrong? Did something..." Tohru breathed a shocked gasp at the scene that lay before her. On the ground lay Kyo and Yuki, unconscious, and looking severely beaten while Kagura lay unconscious in Shigure's arm.

"Momiji, I need you to run, as fast as you can, back to the main house and get Hatori. Tohru, I need your help."

Momiji speed off as Tohru stepped closer to Shigure.

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Wow, you know for such a long pause I think that's pretty good. And I now have a Kyo and a Yuki plush to help me along! Wheee! Ow.

Ryo: That's what ya get for dancin' around, sicky.

Shuddap.

Ryo: Review so the sick authoress will know that you care.

And remember pwease don't hurt me for taking so long.

(I updated this chappy.)


	6. Doctor

Arg! Do you have any idea how hard it to keep my resolve to not post anything until I've almost finished the story if everyone keeps reviewing and begging?

Demonic Queen of Roses: Gomen for the shortness. It's a habit I am trying to break.

Fatearashai: Thanks for the grammer. You are right.

Melon-heart: Thanks! I love to hear that I'm writing a character well.

And to everyone else who reviewed I say a big THANK YOU!

Well, anyway, I decided to put this up cause review do twist my arm, but I probably won't do it again for awhile because I really do want to get closer to done. Also, I am in college now so it's sometime a bit of work to find time to write. But for your sakes, those who have not yet given up on this story, I will do my very best!

Chapter 6: Doctor

By the time Momiji got back with Hatori, Shigure and Tohru had managed to move the boys and Kagura back to the house. They had put Kagura in Tohru's room and the boys in their respective rooms. Shigure was waiting by the door when Hatori's car pulled up and he and Momiji jumped out.

"Thank Kami-sama," he said quietly, "They're in their rooms Hatori."

Hatori nodded and strode into the house with a business air about him; Shigure and Momiji following close behind. Hatori meet Tohru in the hall and asked her to wait downstairs promising to tell her what he found out when he finished. He sent the very worried Momiji with her in the hopes that it would get him to calm down. He let Shigure stay because he was, for the moment, calm and serious and could probably be of use.

"Could you tell which of them was worse?" he asked.

"Not really, but it's probably Yuki. I found him lying in front of a large boulder."

"Hmm, that could mean any number of things. Let's begin with Kyo." He walked through Kyo's open door to find him lying on his back staring blearily at the ceiling like it knew something. He would wince every time he drew a breath.

Hatori 'tsked' and got right to work making sure that Kyo showed no signs of internal injuries and finding what injuries he did have. His exam found a number of broken ribs, a few lacerations, and a badly twisted ankle. He waved Shigure, who had been standing out of the way, over, "I'm going to put a temporary splint around his ribs and ankle and tomorrow I will bring the proper dressings for these."

Shigure nodded and Hatori glanced at Kyo's face, "Were going to lift you slightly so try not to scream please."

Kyo nearly did scream when his torso was lifted off the mattress. Hatori quickly, but efficiently, splint his ribs then moved to his ankle while Shigure lowered Kyo's upper body onto the mattress.

"Alright that should do it. Shigure, shout down the stares for Tohru to bring some ice for his ankle." Shigure left the room and Hatori gave Kyo a shot of pain killer, "Sleep Kyo."

Hatori was packed up and out the door before Kyo finished passing out.

'_Do not worry, child, your hardship will have its reward.'_ Was the last thing Kyo heard before falling into blessed unconsciousness.

--------------

Shigure hurried into Yuki's room soon after Hatori got there. He had already began to gently probe Yuki for injuries.

"Shigure, get extra bandages and a bowl of warm water with a towel."

Shigure was gone and back in record time. Hatori spared time to raise an eyebrow at him.

"Tohru..."

Hatori nodded, "Put that over here then help me remove his clothes. Get his pants off and I'll cut of his shirt."

Shigure blinked, his hands already working, "Cut off his shirt?"

"His shoulder feels wrong. If it's dislocated, as I suspect, then I want to jar it as little as possible before attempting to put it back into place." Hatori explained as he pulled out one of his scalpels.

Once Yuki's clothes were removed Shigure and Hatori got to work cleaning and bandaging the larger cuts. It took Hatori two tries but he got Yuki's shoulder back into place. Yuki, still unconscious, yelped at the pain it caused then whimpered at the discomfort that created.

* * *

Ten more minutes and they had Yuki completely cleaned and bandaged. He looked bad with wrappings on his shoulder, around his torso, a splint on his leg, and bandages in various other places.

The next day Tohru was torn between going to school and staying to help with Yuki and Kyo, who were still bed ridden and unconscious. Hatori, who had taken Kagura home the night before, told her it would probably be better for her to got to school. He said that the boys wouldn't be able to go to school for at least a week, possibly longer in Yuki's case, and some one needed to get their school assignments.

------------

"Hey, where's the carrot top and the prince today?" Uo wondered aloud.

"They were absent yesterday as well." Hana added.

"Hey Tohru, do you know where they are? Are they ditchin' together?" Uo asked with a grin.

"Um, well, there was, well, that is, something happened and, um, they got hurt. So, um, they probably won't be a school all this week." Tohru finished in a rush.

"No way!" Uo exclaimed, "Those two got hurt? By someone other than each other?"

Tohru nodded.

Uo gave an impressed whistle.

"They will miss getting the option of which club to join." Hana commented as she began to braid Tohru's hair.

"Yeah, I wonder what they'll get stuck in..." Uo trailed off.

"Why do we have mandatory clubs for 3rd years anyway?" she demanded suddenly.

Tohru shrugged as Hana continued to braid her hair.

-------------

As it turned out, the only club with places left open was the Drama Club.

"I hope they end up with an on stage bit." Uo said.

"Why?" Tohru asked.

"Because I need something to laugh at them about obviously!"

"I over heard the Drama clubs' president talking about it. It seems that they will have very important rolls if she has her way." Hana put in.

When Tohru got home that day she was surprised to find that Kyo wasn't in his room. When she peeked into Yuki's bedroom she found both of the boys. Yuki was propped up against his pillow and headboard.

"Its reasons like this that people get restraining orders." Kyo was saying.

"I suppose. Do you really think that would have stopped her?" Yuki asked quietly.

"Guess not, still I... um, I'm sorry... for what happened." Kyo finally managed.

Yuki made a vague noise of acceptance, "Anyway. Honda-san had you needed something?"

"Epp..." Tohru looked somewhat sheepish as she entered the room, "Well, I was told to give you your work packets and that we picked clubs today, because it's mandatory for 3rd years, and because you were absent you didn't get to choose so they put you where they still had room and..."

"Breathe," the boys told her, "you're babbling."

"So, what'd we get stuck with?" Kyo asked.

"Drama."

There was a lengthy pause.

"WHAT!" Kyo screamed. He regretted it a second later as his ribs burned with pain.

Yuki simply stared coldly at the wall next to Tohru which seemed to be slowly turning to ice.

"Gomen-nasai, that's how it worked out." Tohru said quickly.

"Don't apologies for something you couldn't control Honda-san." Yuki said softly.

Kyo nodded in agreement.

"Umm... so, how long before Hatori-san will let you go back to school?" Tohru asked changing the subject.

"I could go back in a few days if I wanted." Kyo muttered showing no intention of doing so.

"Next week, possibly longer."

"Ok, umm, I'll go start dinner." Tohru fled the room leaving the boys staring at the place she'd been standing.

"Well, isn't that just so appropriate?" Kyo grumbled.

"Ironically so." Yuki agreed.

Kyo sighed and looked at Yuki, "So, what are we going to do about school?"

"In what way?"

"The acting and the injuries."

Yuki thought on it for a second, "I think the acting for school doesn't need to change in general, though you're going to have to give me a hand occasionally, I very much doubt I can convince Hatori to let me go to school without crutches."

"And what about the injuries? People are going to notice yours real fast and you are 'The Prince'." Kyo pointed out.

Yuki groaned, "True... I suppose we could say it was an accident and leave it at that."

Kyo shrugged, "Well, landslides happen pretty often around here."

Yuki all but jumped on the idea. "That would be perfect!"

* * *

The week went by both quickly and slowly. For Tohru, who was worried about the boys, the week seemed to crawl by. For Yuki and Kyo, who were planning and organizing, the week was over far too fast.

On Friday, Hatori came to cheek on the boys' injuries. He started with Yuki because his wounds had been more severe. The first thing he had Yuki do was demonstrate the range of motion he'd regained in his shoulder. He managed to move his arm in every requested manner with a nominal amount of pain. Next, Hatori moved to examine Yukis' ribs and back.

"Have you had any problems in the last few days?"

Yuki shook his head.

Hatori nodded and moved on to the various cuts and lacerations.

"Well, most of these bandages can come of but the cast will stay and I want you to be careful of the cuts on your back, hip, and arm. I assume you wish to return to school?"

Yuki nodded knowing what Hatori would say next.

"Then you have to use crutches, they shouldn't affect the cut on your arm, I have a pair in my car; I'll get them when I'm done with Kyo."

Hatori packed up and exited the small room. He found Kyo outside working on the packet from school.

"Your turn."

Kyo glared at Hatori as he put the work down. Hatori swiftly checked Kyos' ankle and the deep cut on his shin above it.

"These will need to stay wrapped. Can you walk normally on it like this?"

"Yes."

"Pull up your shirt."

Kyo did so, allowing Hatori to look at the various rib-based injuries he had. Kyo winced and hissed many times through the exam.

"Sounds like these should stay bound as well, but, you can return to school on Monday as can Yuki."

"Goody." Kyo growled.

Hatori smiled faintly before returning to his car to fetch the crutches for Yuki.

* * *

Alright! So what did you all think of that then? You know how the boys are doing now and maybe have an idea of what will happen. I'll try to finish more of the story quickly so you can find out more. Wish me luck. BTW, I was thinking of changing my name to Joyful Writer, what do ya think? 


	7. Back to School

Hi folks. Ok, I am so weak against reviews. I will post on occasion, no guarantees mind you. College tend to interfere with writing.

Just so everyone remembers, there's no way in hell I own any FB characters.

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Chapter 7: Scene 5: Back to school

"Are you ready?" Tohru asked as she and the boys slowly made their way down the street.

They both nodded.

"This ain't gonna be fun." Kyo whispered. He didn't say anything, but his ribs had been bothering him for the last few minutes of the walk.

"Honda-san, are you sure that you haven't heard any of the club girls talking?"

Tohru thought for a bit, "Well, none of them seem any more worried then normal. They've all been upset." Tohru laughed nervously.

As they approached the campus gates they saw one of their teachers, Shiraki-sensai, waiting to one side looking bored.

"Oye, Sensei."

Shiraki looked in Kyo's direction. "There you are! What the hell could have possibly happened to you that you'd need to be out for a week?"

She gave them both an apprising look.

"Never mind, Shigure," she said name like it was poison, "called the school and told me what to expect. Well, you've missed club choices so fate has landed you both in drama. Other then that it's the typical absentee drill."

She turned to walk away, "Oh yeah, you both get out of p.e. and you," she waved in Yuki's general direction, "may want to be careful. A lot of the girls have been acting weird for the last twenty minutes or so." She left them standing there.

Kyo and Tohru glanced at Yuki.

"Come on Nezumi, only one way to find out." Kyo told him.

"Yeah, they might all be nervous about a class or something." Suggested ever optimistic Tohru.

Yuki sighed, nodded, and started moving again. The others began walking as well; Yuki made sure to stay behind them. They got three steps past the school gates before a wave of female students came rushing towards them, deafening everyone with cries of "Yuki!" "Oh Prince Yuki!" and such.

Yuki paled and tried to back up, a hard thing to do in crutched.

Tohru tried to bare the path. "Stop, please, you'll hurt him." She told them urgently.

The onrush of girls wavered, but did not halt.

Kyo growled softly and marched forward a few paces.

"Stop before I make you stop, you're just going to hurt him worse then he already is!" he snarled at them.

The stamped screeched to a stop at Kyo's harsh words. Then they realized Yuki was leaning lightly on a pair of crutches and that some bandaging could be seen sticking out from the right sleeve of his school shirt. They all hung their heads and muttered, "Sorry Prince Yuki Souma."

One of the girls, the new president, stepped forward, "We were worried when you had been gone for so long. We feared something terrible had happened."

"I see, I was out to recover from an accident that occurred near my home." He gave them a reassuring smile.

It was then that another of the teachers walked by.

"What are you all doing here? Move or you'll be late for class." He barked.

Everyone started and hurried off to class, with Kyo relying heavily on the railing in the stairwells, and Tohru worrying and offering help. Even with all the trouble everyone made it to class well before the bell.

In the classroom there was another crowd waiting for the guys. Shouts and comments rang out.

"Whoa, what happened to you two?" was the loudest.

"Landslide." They answered in unison.

"Landslide? What landslide?"

"How could that have crept up on you?"

"So why does Yuki have crutches?"

"You hurt Kyo?"

Uo's voice rang out suddenly, "Hey Tohru, come here and let those two sort it out themselves."

Tohru hesitated.

"Go on." Yuki told her.

She nodded reluctantly and worked her way out of the crowd as Kyo began answering questions.

"The one near our house, duh it's sudden, broken leg, yes…" he gasped suddenly and trailed off, resisting the urge to clutch his ribs.

"Three of his ribs are fractured, among a few other things," Yuki said quietly, "Now, can you move so that we can get to our seats?"

"Of course."

"Right."

"Sure thing."

The group scrambled out of the way so Yuki and Kyo could get their seats.

Kyo held Yuki's crutches while he got himself oriented in the desk. Once Yuki was properly in his seat Kyo handed him the crutches before going to sit at his own desk a few chairs up.

The following two class periods proceeded as normal, although, students snuck occasional glances at Yuki or Kyo. The idea of either of them being hurt was so foreign to their minds.

When p.e. came up, the boys ended up sitting under a tree on the edge of the track while the rest of the class run the marathon.

"I received the list of club meetings."

"Yeah? Guess it helps that you're student body president, huh?"

"Um-hmm, we have one today."

"Drama, they can't really give us a speaking part can they?"

"I don't know."

"Well, do you at least know what's going on at the meeting today?"

"The list said, 'discussing roles for the next play.'"

Kyo twitched slightly.

"Which is…?"

"A Mid-Summer Night's Dream."

"A Mid-Summer Night's Dream?"

"Yes."

"Right…"

Kyo spent a great chunk of the rest of the period muttering darkly to himself, mostly about parts, people, fairies, and evil directors.

Yuki spent a few moments being somewhat surprised that Kyo actually knew the play well enough to complain as thoroughly as he was. After that he sat and was the perfect image of princely displeasure.

_Talk about ending the first act with a twist._

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Alright, so there's the 7th chapter. Good? Still interested? Please do review.


	8. Act 2

Hello folks!!!

Ok, I admit that I've done basically nothing that's related to writing for a while. My only excuse is college. I tried to write more for this recently but only ended up changing this chapter a bit. I will, eventually, finish this story. With luck I'll even manage another chapter or more before my break is up. I can't abandon this story because it was one of my first and I more or less know the end.

* * *

Chapter 8: Act 2 

Kyo and Yuki stood outside the drama room, which was connected with the back of the theater, still a bit hesitant about this latest twist of fate.

"There's nothing for it but to go in." Yuki said.

Kyo grunted irritably.

_Not that I'm looking forward to this either._ Yuki thought to himself.

Kyo opened the door, held it for Yuki, and then followed him into this newest torment.

_Someone really hates me._ Kyo grumbled mentally.

"**Kami."**

The strange voice resonated strongly within his mind.

_Who?!_

But there was no answer.

_Great! Now I'm hearing voices in my head._

But Kyo got no more time to mope because the club members had noticed them.

"Welcome to the club!!!!" The president, Rina Kabota, a second year, exclaimed excitedly, "Thank you so much for joining our club."

Kyo decided to keep his mouth shut.

"We're happy to join." Yuki said politely, "Is there anything we should know?"

Rina consulted with the Vice-President, Karin Sabana, and the treasurer, Hide Tsubasa, briefly.

"No, don't think so." She said.

"You two can act, right?" Hide asked cheerfully.

"Yes." Both Yuki and Kyo answered.

"Oh good, then it seems that Rina and Karin will get to have their way." He said pleasantly.

"What do you mean?" Kyo asked, somewhat worried.

"Our esteemed leaders want to do a 'proper Shakespearian play'." One of the club members said sarcastically.

Kyo and Yuki exchanged a worried look. They both knew what that meant.

"Yeah, proper dress and all and with this play…" another member started.

"…there are even some leading roles that most of us are trying to avoid!" a third finished with a laugh. That set pretty much the entire club laughing.

"Aw, come on guys! We told you we'd make sure you looked really good. The audience won't even be able to tell you're not girls!" a female member, and as such part of the Backstage for this play, managed to say through her laughter.

Many of the boys with lighter builds or more feminine faces pulled looks which just made the girls and the rest of the guys laugh harder. A few mock-sympathetic pats were given for those who had made faces.

After a few minutes the laughter died down to an occasional chuckle.

"Who decided on the play?" Yuki asked, still endeavoring to be polite as possible.

"It was a vote and a draw!" someone called out.

"Yeah, a vote to choose what kind of play we wanted to do and then we picked a name out of a hat to decide who got to decide."

"We weren't too worried when Shakespeare was chosen, but after Hide's name came out of the hat I know I started to worry."

"But Hide always makes such interesting choices!" exclaimed the vice-president and several others. Kyo noted that many of them were girls.

"We had been short a few actors and been debating placing some of the girls in even though many liked the idea of a 'proper Shakespearian play' for some reason, but we had to wait for any additional 3rd year students. And as it turned out, we got the perfect number." Hide said, smiling innocently.

"Don't trust the smile!" several members cried at once and the entire club dissolved back into giggles. It was obviously some kind of inside joke.

"Alright, alright enough distractions!" Karin exclaimed joyfully, "Now let's start deciding positions."

The boys found seats and steeled themselves for what would come next.

* * *

Shigure was working up to the big climax in his latest novel when he heard the door slid open and two pairs of feet enter. Somehow the way they were walking sounded shocked. 

_What ever could have happened to them?_ He wondered.

When he heard them go into the family room rather then their bedrooms he went to check on them. He really was quite curious. When he got into the room, the boys were staring at the table as if it could tell them some big important secret that they really wanted to know.

_And what caused this?_

Shigure cleared his throat to get the boys attention. Neither one looked up.

"And what happened to you two? You look like Akito told you he was getting married." He said pleasantly.

"We went to our club meeting today." Yuki told him, still in shock.

"And?" Shigure prompted.

"We got our parts." Kyo went on.

"Doesn't sound so bad yet. What play?"

"A Mid-Summer Night's Dream." They answered simultaneously.

"The President and Vice-President are insane." Kyo hissed with venom.

"Don't forget, the treasurer is a demon in disguise." Yuki reminded him in an icy tone.

"Oh? What are your parts?" Shigure asked innocently.

Both boys' mouths moved but no sound came out. Shigure waited while they continued to try and tell him what their parts were. Finally Yuki managed.

"He's… Oberon and I…I am…" He couldn't say it.

"Titania?" Shigure ventured as something of a joke.

Yuki nodded.

"I'm going to guess that it's only male actors?"

They nodded.

"Wow! That sounds fun! Maybe we should invite some of the other zodiac members when your play goes up. Yipe!" Shigure yelped when Kyo leapt at him, or at least attempted to. He scurried out of harm's way.

"Come, come! No need to be like that!" he said cheerfully. "How bad could it possibly be?"

They both just stared at him like he was asking the stupidest and most obvious question in the universe.

"Honestly, you two. It's not going to be as bad as you think! Though I am curious to know how the two newest members could end up with two of the most important parts. It seems unusual." He said thoughtfully.

"Kyo got his by showing a fairly large knowledge of the play and seeming to have exceedingly good acting skills for someone who has a limp and cracked ribs." Yuki explained.

"And Yuki got his by demonstrating a range of different types of characters, soft spoken and not and the like, and by just looking exceedingly fair for one who is confined to crutches. Plus I think some of the female members were just this side of being 'PYFC' girls themselves." Kyo finished.

Shigure nodded sagely, "I see. So in other words, you simply had no idea how well your own newly won acting abilities measured against someone who has been acting for years and overdid it." He seemed very sure of his rather blunt statement.

"I guess." Kyo growled. "And we couldn't even use our injuries or newness to the club as an excuse. It didn't help that most of the ones good enough for those parts were trying to get out of them."

"Yes, yes, the world is completely against you both and you must brave cruel hardships that you can tell none but a few for fear of it ruining what frail progress you have wrought." Shigure cried dramatically.

Yuki just stared at him with a cold, blank expression.

"Would you just go finish whatever book you were working on?!" Kyo exclaimed.

"My sympathy has been thrown back in my face." Shigure declared in a wounded tone of voice.

"I will throw something at him if he keeps this up." Kyo growled.

Shigure chuckled good-naturedly and retreated to his office.

"That's over, what now?" Kyo muttered. He wouldn't admit it but his ribs ached from so much shouting.

"I'm honestly not sure. We can't really fight the play so I suppose we shall just have to do our best; though I loathe the fact that I shall have to wear a dress again." Yuki scowled at the thought.

"You'll be lucky if it's an actual dress."

Yuki groaned, "Please don't remind me."

"Unfortunate truth, sorry."

"Why do you know so much about this play?" Yuki asked suddenly.

Kyo groaned and buried his head in his arms, "I was forced to read it for school once and then we kept going back to it and then Kagura got all into it and it was about all I heard for a year. It's involuntary recording!"

Yuki raised an eyebrow, "Involuntary recording?"

"Shut up." Kyo huffed.

* * *

So there you go. Like I said, I'll do my best to get another chapter out before the end of my break. Having my Mom (MomsDarkSecret) here will help a lot! 


	9. The Plot Thickens

Hello people. For the three people who are still waiting for me to update here's your reward. I actually did manage an actual new chapter. Hopefully there will be more soon to follow!

* * *

Chapter 9 The Plot Thickens

"This has gone far enough! Why does that cur defend our glorious prince when a month ago he fought with the prince everyday?" said an ominous female voice in the dimmed classroom.

"I agree! There's something going on here and I want to know what." Another girl said.

"Me too!"

More and more voices joined this cry.

"Alright," the first voice spoke up, "I believe we should create an investigation committee of our best at subtle information gathering. We will need to bring in our sisters from the other schools for top efficiency. What do you all say?"

The answering cry was passionate. They would find out what this suspicious feeling they had was no matter what!

"Alright then, I will contact our sister clubs and explain the situation in detail to them. We will decide the committee next meeting…"

Suddenly, the classroom door opened. All eyes flashed to the door to find a bewildered teacher standing in the entrance.

"What are you all doing?" He asked as he turned up the lights, "And why does it look like a council of war in here?" he continued, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, we were just wrapping up our little meeting, though I have no idea why we look anything like a council of war to you, sir." The president said, giving the teacher her very best innocent look.

"I see." The teacher said skeptically, "Well, you'd better wrap it up faster. School closes in five minutes."

"Of course sir."

The president turned to the sea of female faces in the room. "See everyone next week!"

With that the club meeting ended and the members started to collect their bags and leaving. The last ones to leave were a group of three girls. They, unlike the rest of the members, were not for this plan at all.

"Saiyaka, Kairi what should we do? I really don't like the way this sounds." One asked worriedly as she played with her curly brown hair.

The two glanced at each other then around them to make sure none other the other members would over hear them.

"I agree with Nita. We should spy on the people they choose for the committee." Saiyaka said.

Kairi nodded in agreement. "Keep tabs on them and on the rest of the club's decisions and movements."

"Yeah. The Prince has the right to make his own decision and hang out with who he likes!" Nita exclaimed softly.

"That and you think Kyo's cute too." Saiyaka joked. She and Kairi giggled when Nita blushed.

"We will be the Prince's Knights!" Kairi declared.

"Yeah!" The other two cheered.

Even at these cries none other the other members bothered to pay the girls any mind as they continued to seethe to one another about 'the cur' and their precious Prince.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"_**Achoo!"**_

"God damn it ow." Kyo grumbled as his ribs protested the sharp movement the sneeze required.

"Kyo? Are you ok?" Tohru asked from the kitchen, worry clear in her voice.

"I'm fine. I ain't sick or anything so don't start freaking out on me. Just sneezed all of a sudden."

"All right." She still sounded worried.

"Maybe some one was talking about you!" Momiji exclaimed as he bounced in from the kitchen where he'd been 'helping' Tohru with the cooking.

Kyo simply gave him a look. Of course people were going to talk about him. Probably those blasted fanclub girls. Honestly he was kinda surprised that they hadn't just declared all out war on him. He'd expected that back when this farce had began.

"Say, where's Yuki? I haven't seen him since I got here." Momiji asked suddenly.

Kyo resisted the urge to snort. "He's in his room. Probably glaring at his lines."

"Huh?"

"Nothin'."

Momiji shrugged and went back to attempting to not get under foot and be in the kitchen at the same time.

----------------

In fact, Kyo's guess about Yuki were spot on. He was sitting at his desk, glaring at his packet of lines. He was still annoyed about the part he'd landed, probably would be even after this play was over.

'_A poor run of luck, child.'_

Yuki's head snapped up. Slowly, he looked around the room. No one.

_What was that? I'm sure it wasn't me._ Yuki thought.

'_It seems luck has turned from me for it's twin.'_

This time the voice echoed sadly within his mind and Yuki furrowed his brows, sure that it was no thought of his.

"Then what the hell is it?" he muttered.

After a few minutes he shook his head and pushed the whole incident to the back of his mind. If he really was hearing a voice in his head it was probably the damned curse's fault anyway. Besides, he had more pressing issue. Hatori was coming for a check-up, which in of itself wasn't bad, but he'd been having a particular feeling for a while that he got when his brother decided to drop by.

"I'd bet good money that stupid dog couldn't keep his muzzle shut." Yuki grumbled.

It was also possible that Ayame had finally worn the doctor down so that he could visit his 'poor, injured little brother.' Yuki growled at the thought. Even if that was the case and Ayame _didn't _know about the damn play OR his part in it, he still didn't trust Shigure to keep his mouth closed. Yuki growled again before returning to what he's been doing before all these annoying thoughts had interrupted… glaring at his line book.

--------------

Back downstairs, Kyo was staring at nothing. It was his way of passing time and it worked amazingly well. Before too long the doorbell was ringing.

"Kyo, would you get that?" Shigure called from his study.

Kyo grumbled to himself as he slowly stood and made his way to the front door.

"Why didn't he just come through the back?" he muttered as he reached the door. "You could have…" he trailed off and just stared. The person standing on the porch wasn't Hatori like he'd thought.

_Why's she here?!_

The older girl was fidgeting and starring at the ground. Kyo just stood there; hand on the door, waiting for Kagura to make the first move. Finally, Kagura opened her mouth to say something but closed it again and flushed when she tried to look at Kyo.

"Umm… I, uh…" she stammered. Just as Kyo began to wonder if she was trying to apologize or something she turned and fled. Kyo, still confused, closed the door and began to wander back into the house when there was a knock at the door.

_Is she back?_

Kyo turned back to answer the door again, but the person who'd knocked had already opened it.

"Good afternoon, Kyo." Hatori said as he toed off his shoes.

"Kyo-kun, how are things?"

"What are you doing here?!" Kyo exclaimed, pointing accusing at the person who'd followed Hatori through the door.

Ayame huffed. "I can't stop by to see how my darling brother and his companions are doing?"

Kyo just growled at him.

Hatori sighed and moved to the living room, hoping the other two would follow quietly, which they did. When he got to the living room he wasn't surprised to see a certain rabbit sitting at the table with Tohru.

"Hey 'Tori! Aya!" he chirped happily.

"Hatori-san! Ayame-san! Can I get you something to drink?" Tohru asked pleasantly.

"No thank you Tohru."

"Can I have some tea Tohru-san?"

"Of course, Ayame-san."

"Momiji, be useful and go get Yuki for me." Hatori said as he seated himself. "Kyo, come here so I can check your progress."

As the two boys moved to follow his instructions Shigure beckoned for Aya to join him in the study. Kyo watched him leave the room with a sense of foreboding. This wasn't going to end well for someone.

"So, how does your ankle feel? Still limping?" Hatori asked as he probed it with his fingers, effectively distracting Kyo.

"Just a bit, I've been doing better. Doesn't hurt much either."

"Hmm, and the ribs?"

Kyo was about to say that they were fine when Momiji bounced back with Yuki in tow.

"He'd going to say they're fine Hatori-san, but they're actually still bothering him." Yuki told the doctor without even glancing at Kyo, who was glaring at him.

"Well?" Hatori asked.

"Che, damn rat." Kyo grumbled, "Fine, they still hurt. Lots of talking, laughing, walking too much, all those things make 'em hurt."

"I see. Well, I'd recommend a mild pain killer for the ribs and I want you to follow this physical therapy sheet to make sure that you regain a full range of motion as the ankle finishes healing."

Kyo nodded and took the sheet Hatori handed him. The doctor moved to sit next to Yuki and began by checking the shoulder.

"This has healed well." He said approvingly, "The rest of these bandages can come off as well. The cast will obviously have to stay."

Yuki just sighed. "My brother's here isn't he?"

"Yep." Kyo said.

"Great. With Shigure, right?"

"Yep."

Yuki groaned and buried his head in his arms. Any second now, Ayame'd come bursting into the room and start gushing about the stupid play.

"If you're worried about the play, he already knows." Hatori commented as he put away the few instruments he'd gotten out.

"What?!" both boys stared at him.

"He said he was going to control himself because you were still hurt. Frankly, I'm surprised he's managing as well as he is."

As they continued to stare at him in disbelief, Tohru came back from taking tea to Ayame.

"Um, are you going to be staying for dinner Hatori-san?" she asked.

He nodded.

"Ok, I made chicken curry."

-----------------------------

Later that night, after the kids had all gone to bed, Hatori, Ayame, and Shigure were talking in the study.

"So what did he tell you?" Shigure asked.

"Many things, but what I think he meant is that he thinks something's wrong and that it has to do with Yuki and Kyo. He may try to do something to them soon." Hatori warned them as he stared up at the stars through the open screen.

"I was afraid of that."

"Why?" Ayame asked.

"Because, of all the animals of the Zodiac, the Cat and the Rat have always been treated the worst and kept separate. I haven't figured out why." Shigure explaind.

"But doesn't the legend give reasons? They're punished because of the Rat's trick and the Cat's absence and they're kept apart to keep the Cat from taking revenge."

Shigure shook his head. "But that's just it! The legend doesn't explain everything. It doesn't mention the Zodiac curse at all. There are things we don't know and I think they're things that Akito doesn't want us to know. If he even knows what it is himself."

Both Ayame and Hatori looked at him in surprise.

"Well, what do you think it is?" Hatori asked after a few minutes.

"I think… it has to do with breaking the curse." He said quietly.

* * *

Well, what do you all think? Story still interesting? Let me know!!! I'm still determined to finish this story, 'cause I know roughly how it'll end. Please review and here's hoping I'll have something for you all again soon!

- Riyo


	10. Golden Week

Hello again folks!! Almost exactly seven months since my last post I have managed to finish another chapter. And I have to tell the handful of you who still read this that I love each and every one of you!

_(hugs you)_

Thank you for continuing to read this. I swear that this is about half done and that I will finish it! And once I do I can finally work on the thirty other stories I've thought of since starting this, though none of them are Fruits Basket, sorry. Enjoy the chapter.

* * *

Chapter 10 Golden Week

"Damn, you're still here." Kyo grumbled when he came downstairs for breakfast.

"And what's so very wrong about that?" Ayame asked with a wounded expression. "I simply thought I might join you for the beginning of this Golden Week!"

Kyo just huffed and slumped down on the other side of the table and ignored the snake.

"Good morning Kyo-kun!" Toru said happily from the kitchen. "Breakfast will be ready soon."

"O.k."

"Is Yuki up?"

"Just about. I think he'll be down soon."

"Oh good." She turned to Ayame. "Ayame-san, could you please go get Hatori-san and Shigure-san?"

"Of course Toru-chan!" Ayame stood gracefully and left the room.

"Is the rabbit still here too?" Kyo asked.

"Yep." Momiji chirped from the kitchen door.

"Goody." Kyo sighed and lay down to wait for breakfast. Moments later, Ayame returned with the other two in tow. Just as Momiji was setting out the dishes, Yuki blearily entered and sat next to Kyo. He looked around the table and sighed. There were at least three people there that he didn't want to deal with that morning.

"Ah, my dearest little brother!" Ayame exclaimed. "You're up. Good, good. I have an announcement! Toru-chan are you almost done? Come in here, please."

"Coming."

Toru quickly set breakfast on the table and sat at her place.

"So, what do you absolutely _need_ to tell us?" Yuki asked dryly.

"I have decided that we all need to go to the mountains for this golden week!" He smiled around the table. They just stared at him.

Yuki sighed. "And just what do you expect us to do there, _dearest_ brother?"

Ayame tipped his head to one side, looking thoughtful. "Well, it's far too late for snow, but we can still hike or picnic or any number of things. What is important is to take in the exquisite beauty the mountains have to offer. It'll be fun! Trust me!"

Ayame smiled radiantly.

"Hiking?" Yuki asked rather pointedly.

"It will be fine! OH!" Ayame's eyes lit up. "For example, if you'd rather not hike with us you can practice your lines. The local scenery should be very inspiring! And should you need any help don't hesitate to ask. I would happily lend a hand!" He beamed at Yuki.

Yuki glowered. Kyo groaned.

"And what mountains are proposing exactly Ayame?" Hatori asked as he turned the page of his newspaper.

"The Miyagi Zao Mountains. I believe the lodge is a moderate distance from the Eboshi ski grounds."

"Eboshi ski grounds?" Toru asked, tilting her head to one side.

"Haven't you heard of it Toru-chan?" Momiji asked.

"I have, but isn't that really far from here?"

"Nonsense, we can simply take one of the family cars. It's a bit of a drive, but we can entertain each other," Ayame said, still smiling happily, "And while the lodge is not right next to the ski ground I think we should visit it. I've heard that it's filled with Narcissus flowers this time of year."

"Well, but…" she said looking unsure.

"I think you'd better just go with it Toru-chan. It's going to happen one way or another." Shigure said as he reached for his tea.

"Considering it sounds like he's already made reservations…" Kyo muttered darkly.

"Yep, we already reserved rooms at the lodge." Momiji said happly.

Kyo growled at him.

"That settles it!" Shigure said. "If we pack up after breakfast we can be there by mid-afternoon!"

"Yay! I'll go with 'Tori and get the car!" Momiji said as he finished his breakfast.

"I suppose it's going to happen no matter what I say." Hatori sighed and put down his paper.

"Wait! You were in on this too?" Kyo exclaimed.

Hatori just shrugged and collected his empty dishes.

"Ah! You don't have to do that Hatori-san!" Toru exclaimed.

"It's fine." He grabbed Momiji's dishes as well and went to put them in the sink. Momiji hopped up to grab his and Hatori's shoes from by the front door.

"Ayame, did you pack already?"

"Yes, I left it in your car. Momiji is packed as well."

Momiji hopped back into the room with their shoes.

"Here you go, 'Tori." He said as he handed the larger pair over.

"Thanks."

They stepped through the back door and sat to pull the shoes on.

"We should be back in about twenty or thirty minutes." And with that Hatori and Momiji set off for the main house.

"That should be plenty of time to pack!" Shigure said with a grin. He put his dishes in the sink and then went to pack, humming to himself the whole time. Ayame followed him out.

"Arg, they can't be serious!" Kyo growled. "They just freakin' up and abduct us without any kind of warning and expect us to go along with a smile! Don't ask if we might have had plans or not, just 'Hey guess what we're going hiking at some resort, isn't that great?!'"

"You're going to hurt yourself if you keep going like that." Yuki warned him absentmindedly. "You didn't have any plans did you Honda-san?"

She shook her head. "Uo and Hana had been talking a bit but we hadn't made any plans. I should call them so they know."

"That would probably be good. I'm glad to know that those three's conspiring isn't actually messing anything up."

Kyo snorted. "Don't you mean four?"

"No, I suspect that this crackpot idea was mostly my brother and Momiji's idea. Shigure was probably told soon after they finished thinking of it. Hatori probably knew something was up, but just now found out what."

Kyo grumbled, but accepted that Yuki was probably right.

"Well, I suppose that means we should pack for cool weather." Toru said with a smile. She collected the remaining dishes and went to wash them. "You guys should get started."

They sighed in defeat.

--

Hours later and the car pulled up outside a good sized lodge. It had three rather sprawling stories painted tan with the roof eves painted dark green and looked able to accommodate a large number of guests. It also had many public rooms, a hot spring, a few open air baths, as well as Japanese and western style rooms. Ayame had spent a lot of the beginning of the trip talking about it. As they had approached the lodge he'd pointed out several of the hiking paths, a path that lead to a stable and horse trail, and a number of other things.

"Alright, everyone out and grab your bag. I'll park the car and meet you in the lobby."

Everyone climbed out of the car and moved to the trunk.

"And Shigure, can you carry Yuki's bag for him?"

"Sure, Ha-san." Shigure said with a smile. Yuki muttered a thank you as Shigure grabbed his bag.

Once everyone had their bags, Ayame closed the trunk. "We have your bag as well, Hatori."

Hatori waved and drove off to find a parking space while Momiji herded them all inside.

"Let's go. Time to check in!" he exclaimed.

The older two and Toru laughed as they allowed Momiji to pull them through the double sliding glass doors.

"I still hate this." Kyo said with a soft growl.

Yuki just glowered at him and followed the other four inside.

Kyo sighed. "This had better end better then I think it will."

With that he joined the others in the lobby. He sat on the arm of the couch they had taken over while waiting for Ayame to finish checking them in. Toru and Momiji were sitting next to each other and talking excitedly about the things they wanted to do. Momiji was for some reason insisting that they needed to go horse back riding.

"But I've never ridden a horse before." Toru told him, a bit scared of the idea of trying.

"Don't worry, it's not hard. They can teach you in no time!" Momiji said with a bright smile.

Kyo shook his head and glanced at Shigure who was sitting in a chair across from those on the couch. He seemed to be writing something in a note book and for one wild moment Kyo thought he was actually working on his latest book. He quickly brushed that thought aside. In all likelihood, it was some perverted thing he was working on. Having assured himself of that, he turned to watch the doors and the rest of the goings on of the lobby. He watched until Ayame came over and started handing out room keys.

"Alright, we adults will be sharing a room." He said as he passed Shigure a key.

Yuki snorted softly when Ayame said 'adults'. The only adult in that room that he knew was Hatori.

"Really? That should be fun." Shigure said with a grin.

Ayame chuckled and continued. "Yuki and Kyo will be sharing a room. That doesn't mean that you get to hide from us, boys."

"Why would we do that?" They asked sarcastically.

"And Momiji and Toru have their own rooms."

"Hey, why does the rabbit get his own room?!" Kyo exclaimed.

Momiji grinned at him. Ayame shrugged.

"Well, let's see our rooms," Shigure said, putting his notebook away, "Momiji, can you wait for Ha-san?"

"Sure thing!"

"No need." Hatori said, having just entered the lobby. He picked up his bag and looked at Ayame.

"Right this way!" He said. "Our rooms are on the first floor."

Ayame lead them out of the lobby and into the main hallway. As they walked he pointed out the way to the hot spring, the lodge restaurant and a few other things. Finally, at a corner he stopped.

"This room is ours. Yuki and Kyo, your room is across from ours. Momiji's is around the corner and Toru's is the one next to Momiji's."

"Everyone get settled in and we'll meet for dinner." Hatori said as he opened the door to his room. Ayame and Shigure followed him and waved cheerfully before closing the door.

"Come on Toru, let's see our rooms!" Momiji pulled Toru around the corner.

"See you later Yuki, Kyo." She said quickly as she was pulled away.

"Yeah, sure." Kyo said sulkily.

"Stop mopping and open the door." Yuki told him.

"Right, sorry."

Kyo opened the door and held it open for Yuki. Yuki gave the room a quick glance as he put aside his crutches.

"I suppose it's not bad." He said as he hobbled to the nearest bed where he collapsed.

"M'hm." Kyo muttered as he dropped his bag.

The room was western style and reasonably sized. Besides the two beds and the bed table between them, there was a desk with a chair, a tv, a mini-fridge with nothing in it, a two person sofa and a small coffee table.

Kyo was about to stretch out on the sofa when their door bell rang. Grumbling he went to answer it.

"Sorry Kyo, here's Yuki's bag."

Kyo took the bag and closed the door, not caring if Shigure had wanted something else. In the hall, Shigure chuckled and returned to his room.

"I'm putting your bag here next to mine."

Yuki mumbled his acknowledgement.

Kyo stretched out on the sofa with a sigh.

"I still don't have a good feeling about this."

"I haven't had a good feeling about this since my brother showed up."

* * *

That's all for now and so I want to once again thank all of you for reading and hope that you will continue to do so even though I'm a slow writer.

_(bows)_


	11. Relax

I thank you all for being so understanding! You are such wonderful people! And to loretta537, the answer to your first question is probably within a few chapters.

On with the story!

* * *

Chapter 11 Relax

The boys were able to get a few hours rest before Hatori came to collect them for dinner.

"Just to warn you, I think activities will be planned over dinner," he said.

"Oh joy," Kyo grumbled as he and Yuki joined Hatori in the hall, "And here I thought the rabbit had already finished that and we just got to do whatever he wanted."

"I can name at least two people who will want in on the planning," Hatori said, voice flat but a hint of a smile on his lips.

A moment later Shigure, Ayame, Tohru and Momiji rounded the corner, all of them talking excitedly about what they were going to do over the next several days.

Yuki narrowed his eyes. "How long are we going to be here exactly?"

Hatori raised an eyebrow. "Didn't Ayame tell you?"

"He said to pack for about a week."

"I see, we will be here for four days, not including today."

Kyo groaned. Four days trapped in the mountains with poor ribs and a pack of morons. He heard Yuki sigh and guessed that he was thinking something similar. On the plus side, the only acting required was the acting for drama and that didn't require him to do much. The boys had agreed to just practice the lines they had between their two characters which, as another plus, were few in number.

"Kyo, Yuki! You wanna go ride horses with us?" Momiji asked suddenly.

The boys just stared at him.

"What?"

They turned to Hatori who rolled his eyes.

"That's not advisable Momiji. Neither Kyo's ribs nor Yuki's leg would appreciate a trail ride no matter how gentle the horse."

"Oh, right." Momiji looked rather put out.

"Would you walk with us to the stables?" Tohru asked.

Yuki looked pleadingly to Hatori again, but Hatori was busy putting them in the wait for a table at the restaurant. Kyo didn't bother. He knew they weren't going to get out of that request.

"I guess," he said, not sounding enthused in the least.

It didn't matter. Tohru still thanked him happily and Momiji perked right back up.

"You two will have to join us for the picnic we're planning. It's on the slopes and not far down the trail, so no excuses," Shigure informed them with a grin.

"Us? Make excuses? Never!" Kyo exclaimed, looking both shocked and offended. Nearly everyone laughed and Hatori and Ayame clapped.

"Now I see why you got such an important character. You're good," Hatori said.

"But he's right," Yuki said, looking sincere, "They're not excuses. We simply can not do some of these activities and we would not want to dampen your fun."

Everyone, except Kyo, stared at him. He looked so honest, and had such a soft smile on his face, and spun his words so nicely, that they were inclined to believe that he wasn't being sarcastic.

Kyo just snickered. "You've stunned then into silence, Yuki. I guess that means you win."

Yuki's soft expression melted into a smirk.

"You're very good," Shigure muttered, eyes narrowed.

"You guys are amazing!" Tohru cried. "Can I watch you practice your lines at some point?"

Momiji's eyes lit up. "Me too! Me too! I wanna see!"

"Oh hell no…" Kyo began.

"I'd like to see that too! You never practice at home," Shigure interrupted.

"It would be interesting," Hatori agreed quietly.

"They can show us during the picnic!" Ayame said with a giggle.

"No." Yuki said flatly.

"Oh please little brother! It would be so wonderful to see such another display of your magnificent skills!" Ayame pleaded.

"Absolutely not."

"Please Yuki-kun! It doesn't have to be much, I would just love to see a little of the play you're doing," Tohru asked beseechingly.

"I don't…"

"Excuse me."

Everyone turned to the hostess.

"Your table is ready," she told them, "If you would please follow me."

"Of course," Shigure replied pleasantly. They followed the hostess to a long table with eight chairs. Shigure, Ayame and Hatori all sat on one side of the table. Tohru, Momiji, Kyo and Yuki sat across from them, Kyo helping Yuki into his seat at the end of the table before taking his own seat next to him. Even though they didn't have to they still sat close. It was a habit by this point. A bus boy, seeing Yuki's condition, came and removed the extra chair so that Yuki could stretch out his leg. Yuki offered a charming smile and thanked him before returning to the menu. The restaurant's choices were an interesting mix of traditional Japanese and assorted Western dishes.

After ordering, the four at the other end of the table went back to their planning, with Hatori occasionally adding a comment.

Kyo sighed.

"Think we should try to interfere with that?" he muttered to Yuki, jerking his head at the others.

"Why bother? I doubt we'll win much. Just let them plan and we'll escape from them when we can," Yuki mumbled as he stretched out a little more.

"Like when? By the sounds of it we're hiking tomorrow, having a picnic and being a show the next day, and then escorting everyone to the stables the day after that," Kyo growled.

Yuki glowered at him. "Quit being so resigned to it. There will be chances to escape."

"Hmph."

A somewhat comfortable silence fell between the two and persisted until after their drinks arrived.

"Yuki, Kyo."

The two looked at Hatori.

"I just wanted to remind you to be careful. Since you aren't going to be allowed to stay in the lodge the entire time you're going to have to watch out for things that might re-injure you." He said this loud for the rest of the table to hear over their conversation.

Kyo huffed and gave him a questioning look, but Yuki understood.

"We'll be careful, Hatori. None of the paths looked steep enough to give either of us any real problems."

"Good."

He turned back to watching the others converse and merely raised an eyebrow when Shigure caught his eye and quietly applauded him.

Dinner continued without incident, though Ayame and Momiji kept trying to get Yuki and Kyo to participate in the conversation. Finally, dinner was over and everyone returned to their rooms.

"Finally," Kyo grumbled after the others stopped saying good-night and he could close the door. He was tired of half of them already and the trip had just started. Yuki made some vague noise of agreement as he dug his night clothes out of his bag. Kyo watched as he sat on the edge of his bed and began trying to pull his pants off. Even though he was wearing loose pants it was still a challenge to get them over the cast. After watching him struggle for a few minutes Kyo sighed.

"You want a hand?" he asked.

"No," Yuki answered with a frustrated sigh, "But I'll accept your offer."

Kyo rolled his eyes and moved to help. It took him almost no time to work the pants off.

"Think you can handle the rest?" He asked with a smirk.

Yuki growled and smacked him over the head. "Oh shut up." Yuki stood up and hobbled into the bathroom. Kyo chuckled softly.

_Maybe something good will come out of this._

"Quit laughing at me and do your physical therapy!" Yuki shouted through the door.

"Fine, Mom."

* * *

**Riiiiinnnnnggg!!!**

"What the fuck…?" Kyo grumbled the next morning. The phone was obnoxiously loud and the ring managed to sound cheerful. He grabbed the phone, base and all, just seconds before a half asleep Yuki tried to destroy it. It rang again and Kyo picked up the receiver and put it to his ear.

"What?!" He shouted at the person on the other end.

"Time to get up Kyo!" Shigure's happy voice sang out.

Kyo held the phone away from himself to just stare at it. No one should be that cheerful in the morning.

"How about not?" Kyo said after he stopped staring at the phone.

"Oh come on! It's nine already. Did you not get a lot of sleep?"

Kyo rolled his eyes at the lecherous tone. "That's your department, perv."

"And he does it so well!"

"What the hell?" Kyo muttered.

Ayame's squeal made Kyo realize he must be on speaker phone.

"Will both of you quit pestering him and get ready?" Came Hatori's calm voice.

"Fine Ha-chan, you can perster him then."

Kyo could just see Shigure's pout. There was a rustle and Kyo assumed that Shigure must have gotten off the bed.

"Thanks Hatori," he said.

"It's nothing, but I am going to ask that you boys get up now. Knowing Yuki on a normal day, it could take a while."

Kyo glanced over at Yuki who was glaring at him. Kyo swallowed hard.

"How about I get ready and then you send someone else?" Kyo asked.

"Sorry, get him moving," Hatori said and then hung up the phone.

_Damn them!_

"Er…"

"Just tell me which one called so I can hurt them later," Yuki interrupted him with a hiss.

"Shigure."

Yuki nodded before climbing out of bed and hobbling to the bathroom. Kyo wasn't even going to protest him taking it. Evil morning Yuki might not currently be mad at him but that could change very quickly.

When Yuki emerged form the bathroom several minutes later he seemed much calmer.

"Do you want any help with your clothes, Yuki?" Kyo asked in the most neutral voice he could.

Yuki shook his head. "No thank you. On is much easier then off."

"Cool."

Kyo stepped into the bathroom and Yuki moved to put on his clothes for the day.

----------------------

"Did you really need to hit me so hard Yuki?" Shigure whined as he set his breakfast plate down at the table.

"It shouldn't even bruise so stop whining."

"Ah but Yuki, we'll have to call every morning to make sure you and Kyo are ready for the day!"

"I'm sure we can use the alarm on the clock," Kyo grumbled.

"But getting a personal wake up call is so much better!" Momiji chirped.

"Screw that, the alarm is easier to shut up."

"Playing nice children?" Hatori asked sarcastically as he, Ayame and Tohru joined the rest at the table.

"Of course," Shigure said innocently, "just furthering our plans for the day!"

"I see."

"We're hiking, right?" Tohru asked.

"Yep!" Momiji exclaimed. "Should we all go together or split up?"

"Split up." Yuki said immediately.

Ayame looked at him suspiciously. "You wouldn't be saying that in hopes of avoiding our company for several hours would you, dearest little brother?"

Yuki gave him a blank look.

Ayame smiled brightly and turned to Momiji and Tohru.

"Why don't the two of you take Yuki and Kyo exploring with you? Shigure, Hatori and I can investigate some of the points of interest."

"That sounds fun, Ayame-san!" Tohru said happily. "Don't you think so?" she asked the boys with a smile.

Yuki and Kyo, defenseless before that innocent smile, just sighed in defeat.

"Then it's settled! Let's finish eating so we can explore!"

"Yeah!" Tohru, Shigure, and Momiji cheered. Hatori just raised his tea cup.

"What was that you'd said about escape?" Kyo whispered to Yuki.

Yuki rolled his eyes.

"That you need to stop being so resigned to this torture and keep your eyes open. There _will_ be opportunities."

Kyo shook his head and picked up his cup.

"**There are less pleasant forms of torture."**

Kyo lowered the cup slowly. He'd heard this voice before so either he was going crazy or this was something to do with the damned curse.

"**Yes, that curse would be one such."**

Kyo growled softly.

_Who are you?_

A pause, as if whatever this was needed to think about how it answered.

"**Soon, you'll know soon."**

Kyo stabbed his piece of grilled salmon in annoyance, as if he didn't have enough problems as it was. Things just kept getting better and better.

* * *

So there you have it! I hope everyone enjoyed it! I'll try to get the next one up as soon as possible and thanks again for being so patient with me! Hugs for you all!!!!


	12. Beautiful colors in picturesque places

Hey, guys! I managed to finish another chapter before I went back to school! I just wanted to take a moment to thank all of you who continue to read and enjoy my story. Also, I should say that while the mountains they went to are real, I'm making up everything except the ski ground. So yeah, thanks and enjoy.

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**Chapter 12**: Beautiful colors in picturesque places

"Ok, so which trail do we do first?" Momiji asked excitedly as they all stepped out of the lodge.

Hatori, Ayame and Shigure had gone back to their room after breakfast to "plan the best route to admire as many of the stunning sights as possible in such a short time" as Ayame had said. Kyo snorted, fairly sure that the 'stunning sights' Shigure had in mind were of a different nature from the ones the snake was thinking of.

"**The Dog is a fairly base creature; though I suppose I am not one to talk."**

Kyo stiffened a bit, but decided to try and ignore this voice. If he did that maybe it would go away.

"Did you bother to get a trail map?" Yuki asked Momiji.

"I have one!" Tohru said cheerfully as she pulled out the little pamphlet. "It said that a lot of the trails cross a few times close to the lodge and then go separate places farther away."

"Is there a waterfall nearby? I love waterfalls!" Momiji said as he bounced over to look at the map.

"I think there were a few, but we need to find a nice trail that won't cause Yuki-kun or Kyo-kun any problems."

"Ok! Let's see…"

The two put there heads together over the little paper.

"We could try sneaking away now you know," Kyo whispered to Yuki.

"Too soon, they'd just look for us."

"Feh…"

Kyo stalked off to sit at a nearby picnic table, still annoyed about this latest development. Yuki followed him after a moment and only had minor trouble sitting at the table.

"I still think that we should have a doctor's note that gets us out of this," Kyo grumbled.

"As do I, but we don't so we have to deal with it. This could be worse," Yuki said as he rubbed his shoulder. It was the one that had dislocated and it was sometimes just sore for no apparent reason.

"How could it be...oh, yeah, everyone could be here."

Yuki nodded. They fell into silence and were joined not too long after by Tohru and Momiji.

"We've narrowed it down to a few choices," Tohru said as she placed her little map in front of them. "We can go down any of these three trails."

"I thought you wanted to see a waterfall," Yuki said to Momiji as he looked at the choices. Only one got them even close to a waterfall.

"Yeah, but all of those trails look pretty steep. I kinda wouldn't mind seeing this tree though. The pamphlet says it's supposed to be huge!" Momiji exclaimed happily.

"And it's pretty close so we wouldn't be walking for too long," Tohru added.

Yuki glanced at Kyo who shrugged.

"All right, that sounds fine to me."

"Alright, let's go!" Momiji sprang up from the table and hurried off.

With a laugh from Tohru the other three stood and started walking around the lodge. The trail they had picked started near the hot springs and lead into the trees. They found Momiji waiting for them just inside the woods.

"It should be about two point four kilometers from here," he informed them happily once they'd caught up. Then he pulled Tohru down the trail telling her that he thought he'd seen a fox. That left Yuki and Kyo to wander after them, even though it was very tempting to slip away. Neither of them wanted to worry Tohru. She was too much that sweet little sister that everyone loved, so the two of them just continued to follow Tohru and Momiji up the trail.

They wandered through a clearing or two before coming to a bridge over one of the larger streams.

"The map said there were three streams and a shallow river pretty close to the lodge," Tohru told them as they watched the fish.

Once they were bored of that they started up the trail again. Everywhere they looked, plants were showing their best spring colors. Trees were in full leaf, the grass was a vibrant green and everywhere there were colorful flowers.

"We should have brought a camera!" Momiji said as they passed another beautiful clearing, this one with a little shrine set up. "Everything looks so pretty!"

Not to long after that the arrived at the meadow that the ancient tree grew in.

"Wow!" Tohru exclaimed, "I've never seen a tree this big!"

The boys all agreed. This tree was positively huge. Three of them holding hands might be able to get all the way around the trunk and the first real branch was at least ten feet above them. The tree's branches spread over most of the large meadow, casting it in dappled shadow. Flowers grew in abundance in the shade and they could hear birds singing in the branches far above their heads.

"Come on Tohru-chan, let's get a closer look!"

Tohru laughed and let Momiji grabbed her arm again to pull her closer to the tree. Yuki and Kyo followed them at a more reasonable pace.

"I have to admit that I rather like this," Yuki said quietly.

"Oh?"

"Mmm, there's a calmness here and it's almost…soothing in a way."

"Ah, then maybe this is where we should come to practice lines."

Yuki raised an eyebrow at Kyo, who was looking around and didn't seem to be paying a lot of attention to the conversation.

"Why not the room?" he asked the distracted cat.

"Hmm? Oh, well we can be interrupted in the room and this place is just, I don't know, in the spirit of things I guess?" Kyo said, scratching his cheek.

Yuki had to smile a little. He suspected that Kyo simply liked it out here and was wishing that he could attempt to climb the tree. He turned to look up into the large ranches. The breeze made the leaves dance and the tree itself seemed to make a low sound. It made everything seem a bit surreal, maybe even magical. Kyo was right. This place could have been a place for fairies to gather.

"Why not?" he whispered. It would certainly be better then trying to hide in the lodge and they had met so few people walking down this trail that it might be nearly as private.

Suddenly Momiji was back, ruining the calmness that had settled over them.

"Hey Kyo, Yuki, where should we go next? There are two trails that we can take from here. One of them goes by a ravine and back towards the lodge and the other heads for the deeper forest. Me an' Tohru-chan wanna go into the forest."

They both stared at him for a moment.

"You want to move on already?" Kyo asked in an annoyed tone.

"Yeah, there's lots more to see!"

Yuki sighed. There was no way he was going to be able to keep up with those two for long, given how excited they were. While he was fond of both Momiji and Tohru he was quickly becoming fonder of the idea of finding the little bottle of pain killers that were back in his room.

"Alright, lead the way."

Momiji cheered and raced back to Tohru who was waiting by the start of the next trail. While he told Tohru, Yuki followed after him slowly. His shoulder was rather sore today and it was making using the crutches painful work. Kyo, after a sigh and a small growl, hurried after both of them. He'd rather just wait here for them all to get back, but he didn't like the way Yuki kept trying to favor his shoulder so he'd have to go just to keep an eye on him. At this rate, Yuki was going to need to call it quits for the day long before Kyo was.

"But that's part of why we want to escape," Kyo muttered to no one in particular.

----------------------

In the end, they walked around for nearly three more hours before returning to the lodge for lunch. By that time Kyo was limping a bit and standing rather straight. Yuki was walking very slowly and somewhat stiffly because of the pain in his shoulder. He figured he should probably mention it to Hatori.

"Are you guys alright?" Momiji asked when they sat down to eat at the café.

"Do you want to stay here after lunch?" Tohru added.

"That might be for the best," Yuki said as he alternated between massaging his shoulder and eating the lunch Kyo had brought him.

Kyo just nodded.

"But don't think that doesn't mean you can't go back out," Yuki told Tohru. He honestly didn't want the fact that he and Kyo couldn't move much to spoil her fun.

"Are you sure? I don't mind staying."

Yuki shook his head. "It's fine. You two should go and have fun looking around."

"Yeah Tohru-chan, we can explore some of the higher places and then come back and tell Yuki and Kyo about them," Momiji said. "We could even get a disposable camera from the gift shop so they can see them later!"

Tohru's eyes brightened at the idea. "Yeah! That would be fun."

Yuki smiled. "I'd like that. Where are you thinking of going Momiji?"

"Well…" He pulled out the trail map and they started going over the various places. Finally Yuki pointed to the one that they hadn't taken earlier at the tree.

"How about this one? It leads up to a spring and a series of pools that feed the stream at the bottom of the ravine."

"Oh, that sounds pretty! What do you think Tohru-chan?"

She nodded enthusiastically.

"It's settled then," Yuki said with a nod.

-------------------

After they finished lunch everyone went their separate ways. Tohru had said she'd have liked to walk Kyo and Yuki back to their room but they declined and Kyo gently pushed her in the direction of the gift shop telling her to go ahead and have fun.

Back in their room, Yuki went straight for the bathroom to find his bottle of pain medicine. Kyo settled stiffly on the couch. He knew he should probably take his shoe off but the idea of bending in anyway to remove it was horrifying. He closed his eyes and with a moan lifted his damaged ankle onto the opposite knee. He opened his eyes just in time to see a pill bottle nearly collide with his face. It was only trained reflex that kept him from being beaned with it.

"What the hell?" he rasped.

"Shut up and take your morphine you stubborn cat. You'll never be able to practice if you're trying to breathe that shallow," Yuki said as he hobbled over to the couch with a glass of water.

Kyo didn't argue. He just downed the medicine, finished taking of his shoe and propped his ankle up on a pillow on the coffee table.

"How the hell are we supposed to get through nearly a week of this?" Kyo groaned. "Even trying to get away as soon as possible every day won't help. I can't walk for half a day with out being hopped up on morphine and you were favoring your shoulder before we were even an hour into the hike."

Yuki sighed. He knew Kyo had a point. His shoulder hurt pretty bad today and if resting it for the rest of the day didn't help then walking tomorrow would just aggravate it.

"Look at it this way," he said, "tomorrow we probably won't have to walk all the way to the picnic ground and once we get back we can escape and return to that tree clearing we liked."

Kyo smiled a little. "You got a point. Alright then, let's get to those lines."

Yuki groaned. Acting was pleasant. Playing a girl was embarrassing.

"Very well, which scene?" he asked, grabbing their scripts from the coffee table where he'd put them that morning.

"How about our lines at the beginning of Act II? I still don't have those down word for word."

"At least those are better then the one's I have to say later to Bottom," Yuki said with a grimace.

Kyo chuckled.

Yuki glared at him. "Shut up. You get to stand around talking to Puck and laughing at my expense."

"But I do take pity on you and lift the spell."

"Just read."

Kyo grinned, feeling victorious. "Ill met by moonlight, proud Titania."

"What, jealous Oberon! Fairies skip hence: I have foresworn his bed an company," Yuki read with a sour look on his face.

Kyo rolled his eyes. "You know Yuki, it'd sound better if you threw some haughtiness with that disgust."

Yuki scowled, "Thank you director, now instead of commenting on my reading why don't you stick to your part?"

"Alright geez, just trying to help!" he cleared his throat. "Tarry, rash wanton: am I not thy lord?"

"_Ah, that I had remained by my own lord's side, perhaps I would not be in this state."_

Yuki continued to read his lines mechanically, but most of his attention was focused on the sad echoes bouncing around his mind.

_This is getting annoying._

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Alright that's the end. Please, please review 'cause it makes me feel all happy and fuzzy! I'll do my best to get you guys another chapter a.s.a.p and not let my new ball joint doll oriented hobbies interfere too much.

…

Do any of you have bal joint dolls?


	13. Lunch and a Show

Alrighy folks, to comemorate the first day of school I bring you the thirteenth chapter of Acting!

* * *

Chapter 13 Lunch and a Show

It was around mid-afternoon when Yuki and Kyo stopped working on their lines. They'd gotten through all of the section of Act 2 that Kyo had wanted to work on. After that, Yuki rather reluctantly worked on his character's lines with Bottom which Kyo helped with, though he spent a fair bit of the time just teasing Yuki. That is until Yuki punched him.

"Will you stop that already?!" he shouted.

Kyo rubbed the side of his head where Yuki had struck him.

"Sorry, couldn't resist. Anyway, you didn't hurt your arm did you?"

"You're thick head did a good job of stopping my arm before I could. Why don't we stop now?"

"Sounds good." Kyo stretched and stood before glancing at the clock. It read 4:47. "Think the others are back?"

"Probably." Yuki tossed his script on the table and stretched out on the couch.

"I think I'm gonna go grab a snack from the convenience store. Want anything?" Kyo asked as he rummaged around for his wallet.

"Hmm, maybe something to drink, but are you sure you want to walk that far?"

"Morphine is a wonderful thing," Kyo said with a crooked grin. He stood up, having located his wallet in the drawer of the bedside table, and moved to the door. "Alright, be right back."

Yuki just shrugged and picked up a book. He'd read nearly half a chapter by the time Kyo returned.

"Hey Yuki, I got you some iced coffee," Kyo said as he slipped off his untied shoes. "I also found Tohru in the lobby."

Yuki set down his book and sure enough there was Tohru standing in the door toeing off her own shoes.

"Good afternoon, Yuki-kun," she said with her usual smile.

Yuki smiled in return. "Good afternoon, Honda-san. Did you have fun hiking?"

Tohru nodded and sat on the desk chair. Kyo handed Yuki his can of coffee before stretching out on his bed.

"So tell us about it. You two went up to see that spring, right?"

"Yeah, it was really pretty!" she said brightly. "The pools were a really deep blue and each one had different flowers growing around it and…"

The boys listened as she described everything about the scene and some of the other things she and Momiji had seen along the trail. Apparently, they passed the edge of the ravine in several places before climbing up the side of a mountain to the spring. The same path also went by the stable, so Momiji and Tohru had gone by to look at the horses.

"There were a few being saddled up and Momiji said they were small horses but they looked awfully big to me," Tohru told them with a hint of worry.

"The rabbit's probably right," Kyo said with a shrug, "for the trails 'round here a smaller horse is safer."

"Oh."

After that they settled into talking about this and that, just random topics that would segue into one another. Inevitably, the acting they were doing to get all these girls away from them came up.

"Do you guys think it's working?" Tohru asked.

The boys exchanged a look. Kyo gave Yuki a questioning look and Yuki shrugged.

"Perhaps, though we are probably having more success for Kyo than for me. We seem to have convinced Kagura, but we may just be stirring up that blasted fan club," Yuki finished with a sigh.

Kyo nodded in agreement. "Did I tell you guys that I saw her the other day?"

Tohru and Yuki looked at him in surprise.

"Yeah, the same day that Hatori and Ayame showed up. She was at the front door and fidgeting and when she tried to say something she couldn't. She couldn't even look at me without blushing. She got about two words out before she took off," he finished with a shrug.

"Interesting."

"Maybe…" Tohru said hesitantly, "maybe she wanted to apologize?"

"That was my guess," Kyo said as he rolled over onto his back.

"If she did would you accept it?"

Kyo frowned. "I don't know. I guess it depends on what she apologizes for."

Tohru nodded. "As long as you let her try. But you should probably accept it anyway. She may still want to be your friend."

Kyo's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "You think?"

Tohru just nodded again.

Kyo shrugged.

"Oh!" Tohru's face brightened suddenly. "What were you guys thinking to show us tomorrow?"

"Uhhh…" Kyo looked at Yuki uncertainly.

"Would it be ok if we kept that to ourselves? We want it to be a surprise," Yuki told her with his most charming smile.

"Oh, that's fine. I'll be looking forward to it!" she said with a grin.

They talked for a while longer before Tohru politely took her leave. As soon as the door closed Kyo turned to Yuki.

"Ok, I know we never picked a scene so what the heck are we going to do?"

"Nothing that requires more than the two of us. It would probably be best to do the scene we just finished earlier," Yuki said, waving his hand at the script.

"The arguing? I can do that."

"From memory?"

Kyo raised an eyebrow.

"It would be much more impressive," Yuki said with a minor smirk. "If we must do this then we might as well show off."

"Meh," Kyo shrugged, "shouldn't be too hard."

-------------------------

The next day, they got to sleep in. Since they were going to have a picnic lunch, Ayame had decreed that everyone could get breakfast when they wanted. Kyo slept in until just after nine before leisurely rising and getting ready for the day. He spent some time massaging the scar tissue around his ankle, until it got too painful, and doing some physical therapy. After that he wandered back down to the convenience store to find some food for breakfast because it was easier and cheaper then going to the restaurant. He grabbed a little extra in case Yuki woke up before it was time to pack up for the picnic. Then he wandered back to the room and sat on his bed reading.

A little before eleven, Yuki rose from his bed and dragged himself into the bathroom. Kyo got up to conspicuously place the small bottle of milk and pastry he'd picked up where Yuki, even in his half awake state, would notice it. When Yuki came out of the bathroom, he stared at the offering for a bit before turning to dig out his clothes for the day. Once dressed, he took the food Kyo had left for him.

"Thanks," he said.

"No prob," Kyo replied with a small shrug. He was still reading his book, "Though I honestly have been expecting the snake or the rabbit to turn up for about the past half hour."

Yuki grunted and chugged the milk. Just as he finished putting the empty container down the door beeped softly. Kyo barely had time to look at it questioningly before it burst open.

"Dearest Little Brother! Kyo-kun! It is time! Time for us to immerse ourselves in the wonder, the splendor, of a mountain picnic!" Ayame's cheerful exuberance was met with a hard glare from the still waking Yuki.

"Why the hell do you have a key to our room?!" Kyo demanded.

Ayame grinned at him. "Is it not a good idea for us to have spares in case of emergency?"

"Oh that just bu…"

"Nii-san, if you will please go ahead of us, we will join everyone in the lobby shortly," Yuki interrupted coldly.

"Er…" Ayame seemed to deflate a bit at Yuki's cold request. "Well…"

Ayame was saved from his awkward moment by Momiji, who ran up and exclaimed for Ayame to hurry because they wanted to add a few more things to the basket they were picking up from the hotel restaurant. Ayame nodded and with a quick word for the boys to not dawdle, he was off.

Kyo sighed. "Well that was fun."

Yuki scowled.

----------------

After joining the others in the lobby everyone piled into Hatori's car to drive to the slopes.

"Didn't you say that the place wasn't far down one of the trails?" Kyo muttered as he squeezed in.

"Well, it is but there's a small parking lot near it and this is easier then carrying everything," Shigure said with a grin.

Everyone fell to small talk during the short ride to the slope parking. It turned out that another reason for driving was that it let them out near a reasonably flat area of the slope. If they had taken the trail, they would have come out a bit higher up and had to walk either up or down the slope to find a good picnic spot. As it was, they had a somewhat hard time finding a spot that wasn't terribly close to any of the other happy families. It really was a lovely day for a picnic. The air was clear with only the occasional fluffy cloud, there was a gentle breeze that kept the temperature very reasonable and nearly as far as the eye could see up and down the slope stunning narcissi flowers painted it a beautiful yellow.

"I have to admit, this is rather stunning," Yuki commented quietly to Tohru, who was still trying to take in the scenery as they walked.

Finally they found a spot that no one had claimed and was far enough to allow them some privacy.

"Shall we play a little before lunch?" Shigure asked, holding up a Frisbee.

Several of the others cheered in agreement and sped after the disk when he tossed it. They tossed it back and forth for a while before lofting it to Hatori who caught it easily.

"Come on Ha-chan! You should play too!" Shigure called.

Hatori smiled a bit and rolled his eyes before stepping away from the blanket. Then his grin turned a little evil before he shot the Frisbee a good half-meter over Shigure's head. As Shigure turned to chase the disc Hatori winked at the boys and Tohru, who were closest to him, and said, "Fetch."

Yuki grinned, Kyo laughed and Tohru tried not to laugh.

"Bastard!" Shigure shouted over his shoulder as he chased after the toy.

It really was an old joke on his zodiac that came up every now and then, but none of the younger members of the group had ever really seen him playing like this so it was still quite funny to them. Finally, Shigure jumped and caught the Frisbee a good ten feet or so from where he'd started.

"Happy now?" Hatori asked him when he'd come back closer to the others.

Shigure frowned theatrically. "No."

Hatori raised an eyebrow.

"I didn't get my treat."

Ayame and Momiji laughed at this as did the others by the blanket.

Hatori smirked. "I'll be sure to give it to you later."

Shigure perked up. "I'll hold you to that!"

They tossed the Frisbee around a little more, Kyo and Tohru joining in, before deciding that it was time to eat. They gathered on the blanket and pulled out the food they had ordered from the hotel. There were sandwiches, fruit, carrots cut into the shapes of flowers, chips and juice for everyone. For dessert they had a selection of small pastries and tea. The lunchtime conversation was light-hearted with quite a bit of teasing going back and forth as well as good natured bickering that had everyone laughing. Things eventually wound down, with people nursing various drinks and chatting quietly.

"Alright Yuki, Kyo, are you going to round out our picnic with a lovely performance?"

Kyo glanced at Hatori and then at Yuki, who nodded and slowly stood. Kyo sighed and climbed to his feet. They both stepped off the blanket into a lush patch of narcissi. They stood a few feet apart and faced each other. Their audience waited quietly for them to begin.

"Ill met by moonlight, proud Titania," Kyo said in a deep, even tone with a look of disapproval on his face.

"What, jealous Oberon! Fairies skip hence: I have foresworn his bed and company." This time Yuki's response held a somewhat cold and annoyed quality to it. He turned slightly away from Kyo to emphasize his lines.

Kyo scowled. "Tarry rash wonton: am I not thy lord?"

Yuki sneered at him. "Then I must be thy lady: but I know when thou hast stolen away from fairy land, and in the shape of Corin sat all day, playing on pipes of love and versing all day to amorous Pillida. Why art thou here, come from the farthest Steppe of India? But that, forsooth, the bouncing Amazon, your buckskin'd mistress and your warrior love, to Theseus must be wed, and you come to give their bed joy and prosperity."

Kyo raised his eyebrows and gave Yuki a look of amusement. "How canst thou thus for shame, Titania, glance at my credit with Hippolyta, knowing I know thy love to Theseus? Didst thou not lead him through the glimmering night from Perigenia, whom he ravished? And make him with fair Aegle break his faith, with Ariadne and Antiopa?"

Yuki turned back to Kyo with his hands on his hips and snapped his next lines. Kyo smirked a bit when he replied to Yuki's harsh words. Yuki sniffed haughtily, turned away from Kyo and crossed his arms as he explained why he would not give up the Indian prince. Tohru, Momiji, and Ayame sat glued to the performance and the other two watched with rapt attention. While Yuki really didn't look terribly feminine and Kyo wasn't really an imposing figure they were doing there best to make up for that with there expressions and voices. And they were succeeding. Making themselves seem like they were far more then they appeared.

"How long within these woods intend you stay?" Kyo asked coolly.

Yuki struck a gracefully thoughtful pose. "Perchance till after Theseus' wedding-day. If you will patiently dance in our round and see our moonlight revels, go with us; if not, shun me, and I will spare your haunts."

"Give me that boy, and I will go with thee."

Yuki threw his arms up in exasperation. "Not for thy fairy kingdom. Fairies away! We shall chide downright, if I longer stay." He then turned and walked back to the blanket. "This is when my character leaves the scene and where we will be ending the scene. Was it to your liking?"

"That was amazing," Tohru told them with a look of awe. Momiji nodded slowly in agreement.

"Little brother, Kyo may I say that your abilities far exceed all expectations!" Ayame gushed. "Were it not midday, I would feel that I was viewing an enchanted encounter by moonlight."

Kyo quirked an eyebrow at him but they accepted the compliment.

"I am pleased that your injuries are not hindering you too much," Hatori said.

"And I feel that you both have a good feel for your characters," Shigure added.

"If we have to do this then we may as well do it to the absolute best of our ability!" Kyo said with a toothy grin.

"Exactly," Yuki was also smiling, pleased by Shigure's compliment, "So shall we wrap up our outing?"

The others chuckled and nodded in agreement. They all chatted about the play and other things as they collected up the picnic dishes and folded the blanket. They wandered back to the car while discussing other plans for the day. The boys mentioned that they were thinking of going back to the clearing they'd seen the other day while hiking and Tohru and Hatori asked if they could join.

"Oh by the way, I was thinking we should all go to the outdoor baths this evening," Shigure said as he put the picnic stuff in the car trunk. He glanced at the others who were, for the most part, nodding in agreement and held up a hand to forestall any objections from the Yuki or Kyo. "I realize that you two can't go in the spring for one reason or another but I think you should come with us."

"That sounds nice," Ayame sighed happily, "a warm bath with family." He grinned at Tohru. "Because of course, our cute Tohru is family!" He then pulled her into a warm hug when she blushed and grinned.

The others laughed and voiced their agreement. Momiji swept everyone, even Hatori, Yuki and Kyo into the hug and turned it into a big group hug.

* * *

So was that to everyone's liking? Hope so. Anyway, I'll try and have another chapter before end of semester! And hey, has anyone picked up on the actual yaoi goin on in the story? Just curious...Review?


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